Halfway
by jesswess
Summary: It's been years since the world evaded the Disasteroid, and aside from Amity Park knowing Danny's secret, not much else has changed. Danny Phantom protects, while Danny Fenton focuses on a promising human future. But when a ghost that isn't quite a ghost at all reveals an eerie concept of what the future could bring, Danny finds himself fighting to set things right again.
1. Debut

[ **Author's Note** : Randomly decided to binge-watch Danny Phantom, which was my favorite show when I was younger. Rekindled my love for the show. I feel like it ended far too soon and that there was so much more of this world to explore, so I'm going to write my own adventures. Enjoy!]

* * *

"Thanks for coming with me today, guys."

The campus was bustling with newcomers from all corners of the country. Colorful banners lined the doorways of buildings, reading different variants of welcome, and signs were posted on the corners of the greenest grass that showed facts about the school, pictures of the mascot, and arrows pointing to the tour. Danny was holding an introductory folder filled with descriptions of the campus and its majors.

"Of course. Wouldn't miss your big astronaut debut."

His friends were with him, having volunteered to go with him instead of his family so that they could "attend to business as usual." One of them was his girlfriend, Sam, who had her black hair down over her shoulders to prevent a potential sunburn on her pale skin; her usual indifferent attitude didn't seem to stop her from grabbing whatever free stuff she could. The other person was lagging behind—Danny's other best friend, Tucker, who was somewhat lost in his own world, his glasses askew as he played a game on his phone.

"It's not an astronaut debut… It's not even a debut," Danny muttered. "I haven't graduated high school yet."

"Yeah, but it's your first step, Danny," said Sam, casually taking his folder and looking through some of the pamphlets. "The first step _toward_ your astronaut debut… I mean, if you still want it."

"Of course I do. I still don't know why you two came with me, though." Danny glanced at his Tucker, who was catching up from behind.

"Moral support!" he piped, finally sprinting toward his friends after realizing he was behind. He practically shoved his screen in Danny's face to reveal only one bar of service in the top corner. " _Could_ also serve as the occasional reality check."

Danny pushed the phone away. "And what kind of reality check are you suggesting, exactly?"

"The wi-fi here sucks, dude. You should consider a different college."

"Or not. They have some great science programs." Sam glanced up from the information folder, tapping on a certain part of the page with her black-painted nail. "Even for environmental science."

"You're considering coming here, too?" asked Tucker, knowing that she was the only one particularly interested in the subject.

"Duh. I have choices to make, too, you know."

"You want to come to college with me?" said Danny. "I'm flattered."

"This isn't about you. Though I guess that would be a plus," Sam added, smiling. "I don't know. I definitely want to do something with environmental science, though I might minor in digital art or something."

Tucker arched a brow. "Art? You?"

"Hello?" Sam nudged Danny hard in the chest, where the Danny Phantom logo sat ("Ow," he grunted). "My art is everywhere. I practically _made_ him."

"His _logo_ ," said Tucker.

"The logo that everyone knows about. Think about what that will say on my resume. The logo that I made just so happens to play a part in saving the world, and with my expansive knowledge of environmental science, I'll play a part in changing it further."

"Starting with changing the lunch menu?" Danny suggested.

Sam gave him a side-glare.

"Resume schmesume," Tucker continued, waving his hand idly at the both of them. "Who needs a glorified piece of paper to secure their future, anyway?"

"In this economy? Everyone," said Sam sourly.

"Not everyone. I've got a kickin' job as mayor of Amity Park."

"I still don't know if that's legal," said Danny.

" _I_ still don't know how you even managed that. I thought it was just some publicity thing until a new mayor got elected, but you're still going strong three years in."

Tucker stopped in his tracks. "I'm hurt, Samantha."

"Anyway," Danny cut in. "Maybe Sam's right about this place. I've heard good things about the science programs."

"Why are you even attempting to go to college anyway?" Tucker asked, walking with them again. "One, you hate school. Two, you've already been in space and you're already considered a hero."

"Yeah, well, being a hero isn't really on their list of requirements. But there's not a lot of requirements left, at least." Danny pulled out an oft-crumpled paper from his pocket. "Perfect vision, check." He discreetly flashed his eyes green to prove it. "Flight experience, check. And I'd do okay with the physical stuff. I just need a college degree in some kind of science field and I can start applying and training with NASA."

"And what about you being technically dead?" Tucker asked.

This time Sam aimed her glare at him. After some more extensive research on ghost biology courtesy of the Fenton family, Tucker knew that Danny's powers were the result of ectoplasmic properties and had nothing to do with death (as far as they knew), but he still liked to joke about it from time to time. It seemed that Danny wasn't the only one now sort of tired of hearing ghost jokes. (Ghost puns, on the other hand, were always welcome.)

"Half dead," said Danny. "I mean, half ghost. There's still that human part I need to work on. Better make sure I do it right."

"He'd probably be able to use the ghost half to his advantage anyway," said Sam. "With all of this considered, he's a shoo-in."

Danny chuckled. "Right. Let me just survive high school first before we even consider astronaut stuff, though, all right?" He paused. "And… ghost stuff. We're here as normal high school seniors, so let's act like it."

"Actually, we should act like normal _college_ students," said Tucker. "People here can practically smell upcoming freshman. We don't blend in." He directed his gaze to a group of older students, who were grinning at the gaggle of visitors.

"We're here for a _tour_ of the university, Tucker," said Sam. "There's not much blending in we can do."

Still chatting, they walked over to what appeared to be the main hall at the heart of the campus. There was a bespectacled student in a red vest at the door letting in visitors with a dull expression. When the trio eagerly arrived, he handed them yet another pamphlet, which showed the tour schedule and list of academic buildings.

"Why so many pamphlets?" Danny asked, hesitantly taking it.

"The university has plenty of information to offer," the young man droned. "It's always beneficial to, uh"—he glanced at some ink written on his inner arm—"arm yourself with knowledge."

"Arm." Tucker laughed, prodding the greeter's arm. "I get it."

The greeter only blinked back, unamused.

"Well, thank you, um... _Greg,_ " said Sam, squinting at the student's blurred name tag.

"Whatever. Enjoy your visit."

"Any idea of when we'll visit the environmental center?" Sam asked him, taking a pamphlet as well. "Or maybe the dining hall? I want to see if they have any ultra-recyclo-vegetarian options available."

"Vegan, huh," the guy grunted. "Don't ask me, I'm just here to hold the door open for some extra cash. Ask the tour guide. Who's actually _giving the tour_."

Sam scowled. "Fine." She gestured to his arm. "By the way, you spelled 'knowledge' wrong."

The student averted his eyes, reaching into his pocket and taking out a pen.

"Friendly people around here," said Tucker as they walked past him. He nudged Danny in the side. "You should zap him."

"I said no more ghost stuff," Danny reminded him. "Although…"

He considered it for a moment, peering back at the figure, who was leaning against the door frame, recoloring the missing lines on his arm. After a few seconds of thought, Danny decisively pointed his index finger at him and shot a tiny blast of energy at the greeter's backside.

The resounding " _Ow_!" and the following swear from the doorway rendered the boys hysterical.

"Nice, you guys," said Sam coolly. "Way to make a good impression."

Danny laughed. "Ah, he's just here for the extra cash."

"I wonder if he saw that," Tucker mused.

They arrived to a nearby group, where the visitors were completely engrossed in their own worlds. Even the reluctant greeter at the door seemed unfazed, rubbing his bottom and glancing around the room in confusion.

"I don't think anyone did," said Danny.

As if on cue, Tucker leaped forward and sang dramatically, " _Danny Phantom?_!"

Everyone turned their attention to him, some vocalizing "Huh?" and looking around, before ultimately finding nothing and returning to their business. Sam and Danny both hit Tucker on the arms, but Tucker only looked thoughtful, as though he had just received interesting results in some kind of experiment.

"Huh. The whole world knows Danny Phantom, but not so much Danny Fenton. At least, not outside Amity Park."

"It's hard to remember that Amity Park isn't the whole world," said Danny lightly.

The concept of a secret identity had been up in the air ever since the day three years ago that everyone called Disappearing Day. His immediate family knew, and all of the people at his school knew, leaving him free to go ghost when he needed to instead of worrying about hiding first. The people from around the world who helped in Antarctica knew. Even Valerie knew. And though Danny said his words in jest, it technically was true that being openly half-ghost was different than it was in the ghost-riddled, tight-knit community of Amity Park.

To this day, his human identity was still mostly secret. People knew that Danny Phantom was half-ghost but didn't know much about the other half. People knew Danny Phantom but didn't really know Danny Fenton.

Danny Fenton was okay with this. The idea of his human side being just as recognizable as his ghost side sounded way too exhausting.

It was as if Sam could read his mind. "So, that's good, right?"

"I dunno, I kind of like it. Gives me more of a chance to do something with my human life without any expectations." He shrugged. "College seems like a good place to start."

"I guess so. Kind of stinks that they'd only recognize half of you, though."

"It never bothered me before. Besides, it's kind of good to sit on the sidelines sometimes, you know?"

"The first tour begins in fifteen minutes!" a significantly more cheerful student also donned in a red vest called, skipping to the center of the room. "I repeat, fifteen minutes! Potential future Tigers, please meet here in the center of the lobby!"

"Oh, good, there's still time left for questions." Sam hastened over to the girl with her pamphlet in hand, having already written some things in its margins.

"I think she's been hanging out with Jazz too much," Tucker muttered.

"She just wants to make sure everything goes well. Looks like she's not trying to uphold that whole goth indifference thing anymore," said Danny casually, admiring her from afar. "She cares so much."

"Enough with the googly-eyes, man." Tucker patted him on the shoulder. "There's room for that later."

They talked for a while with the remaining students, the majority of which were still high school students like them. One of them was a girl seemingly just as well-versed in technology as Tucker – and perhaps even more talkative, such a thing was possible.

"It's just ridiculous, you know?" the girl said to nobody in particular. "Our society forces us to stay in school for years and years of our life, only to have us pay thousands of dollars for college that's supposed to be optional but actually mandatory if we want to have a job and survive in this world. You know, I'd just like to be able to learn things without feeling obligated. I've even been teaching myself to code lately." She lifted her device for emphasis.

"HTML or PHP?" Tucker piped.

"Both." She didn't look at him. "Anyways, like I said. Ridiculous."

"I hear that, girlfriend."

The comment prompted the girl to give Tucker a one-over. "Ugh."

"It was just an expression!" he called, watching as she walked away. He sighed, pocketing his beloved gadget. "I need to work on relating to humans."

"You're human, Tuck," said Danny.

"What's your point?"

"Five minutes, future Tigers!" the tour guide interjected. Sam cringed and covered her ears with an annoyed expression.

Danny glanced back at the group. "I guess that's that. We'd better hurry before we're late for the first…" He felt a chill go up his spine and eventually out of his parted lips, manifesting as a puff of visible air.

"…tour."

 _Oh, no_.

The giant room became darker, as if the sun had disappeared behind gray clouds. But that definitely wasn't the case; when Danny looked up, all he could see was a ghostly shadow, so large it stretched across the glass of the ceiling, cloaking the lobby in darkness.

All it took was a look now. Danny caught Tucker's eye, then looked at Sam, who immediately forgot about her questions and ran over to him, digging in her pockets for one of his Dad's ghost hunting weapons. At the moment, all everyone else could do was stare up at the eerie presence, not sure of what else to do.

When Danny still hesitated to move, Sam looked at him imploringly. He'd seen this look before, so he made to glance back up at the sight.

"Not my town, not my problem?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Sam only rolled her eyes. "Do you really believe that?"

Danny looked around, realizing that the threat of ghosts likely wasn't as common as it was in Amity Park, where ghost portals ran rampant. No one else knew what to do about mysterious creatures randomly appearing on the roof. No one could fight it or figure out a way out of it. No one could fly up to the height of the oncoming ghost and give it a piece of their mind.

But Danny could. He could try, at least.

"No," he said.

Sam smiled knowingly, shoving the thermos into his hands.

"Then you know what to do."


	2. Chase

Danny glanced back up at the glass, watching as the ghost scanned the crowd from above. It was hard to tell from this angle and from how massive the ghost actually was, but Danny could see its eyes, which were wide and glowing so bright that it cast the room in a red glow, leaving dancing shadows on the faces of passersby.

The ghostly figure seemed to spot something in the silence. It leaned back for the briefest moment before relentlessly lunging into the glass. Everyone screamed, running away or hiding as glass showered above them and the creature landed on the tile with a resounding crash.

It was more easily visible now, even when shrouded in its own shadows. The giant black wolf-like creature practically radiated ferocity, its eyes angry and blood red and its teeth bared, oozing ectoplasmic saliva. It pounced immediately upon landing, darting across the room and wrecking everything in its way, as if it didn't know it could phase through anything, or else it forgot in its fury.

While everyone ran in the opposite direction, Danny and his friends ran toward the chaos, with Danny briefly forgetting about his own powers, too. It seemed that they weren't alone, for a girl with green-dyed hair was darting just ahead of them, tossing her belongings out of the way and glancing back with panic in her eyes.

It didn't register to Danny that the person was being chased until the monster snatched her by the back of her shirt with his teeth and she screamed.

Danny was just about to react when Tucker's voice rang through the chaos.

"Here, doggy!"

The ghost glanced back, and Tucker threw what looked to be a paper airplane into the air.

"Catch!"

Danny reminded himself to congratulate Tucker on his improved aim; the paper airplane poked the distracted ghost directly in its eye. It howled, consequently dropping the captive girl. Danny darted over without a second thought, catching her just as she was about to hit the floor. They collapsed together on the broken tile with simultaneous grunts of pain, mostly avoided by Danny's ghostly protections. He quickly made them disappear and shakily tried to stand.

"Are you guys okay?" Sam called, running over to them after zapping the ghost with her watch. While it wasn't much against its giant stature, the ghost lost its footing eventually in all the commotion, stumbling to the floor with such unbridled strength that it caused a crater where it fell.

"Fine, I think," the girl stammered, looking past them.

"Why's this thing after _you_?" Danny asked her wildly, gaping back at the monster. It was just starting to get back to its feet. He automatically clenched his fists, preparing to fight.

"I don't know, I just _got_ here!"

"Well, get _out_ of here, then! Run!"

The girl scrambled to her feet, wobbling as she did so, before she glanced at all three of the teens before her. "Thanks," she breathed. She then hurried down the hall and out the door.

Danny couldn't react any further. With a swipe of the enemy's massive paw, he was thrown back, not having realized that the ghost had fully recovered. His unceremonious crash against the wall didn't last long; he jumped back to his feet and charged toward the creature, leaping into the air and revisiting his ghost side with a flash of iridescent light. Going ghost was pretty much effortless now, as if his body automatically knew when to act instead of having him think too much about it. With muscle memory on his side, he didn't have to pause, jumping straight into action. He shot toward the madness, attempting to render it helpless with blasts of ecto-energy before going intangible and snatching the creature by its coarse fur. With all his strength, he whirled around in place and lobbed the now-intangible wolf through the wall, leaving it unable to destroy anything else inside.

Just after Danny followed it through the wall, Sam made to go out the door, but not without first yelling to Tucker, "Now give me back my pamphlet!"

Danny's transparent hand appeared through the wall and tossed the discarded paper airplane toward her, causing it to hit her directly in the back of her head.

"Ow. Thanks."

Danny returned to the outside, where the wolf started to charge in another direction.

"Hey, ugly!" Danny immediately blasted at the ghost with a sizeable ball of green energy. The ghost didn't seem to notice. "Don't you have better things to do than terrorize the debt-holders of higher education?"

The ghost, previously only focused on chasing the girl, now seemed far too annoyed at Danny to continue its ignorance. It whirled around and let out a very abrupt bark, so horribly loud that it visibly shook everything around it, including Danny, who fell out of the air and crumpled onto his back on the cobblestone ground.

A sharp-dressed professor was hiding behind the wall nearby. When Danny sensed someone nearby and jerked his head back to look, the professor screamed and ran away from the scene, abandoning his briefcase.

"Sorry about this!" Danny called, snatching it from the ground and using it as a shield from the ghost's sudden zaps of relentless energy, all of which emitted from repeated ear-shattering barks. Graded papers flew from the newly formed holes in the briefcase, scattering around the field. One of them caught his eye in passing. "And—sorry about that D-minus, whoever you are…"

When the ghost started to move toward Danny, bounding across the yard, he snatched the briefcase back into his grip, throwing it with all his might so that it beaned the creature directly in the head. The latter promptly let out a roar that rivaled its first, the effects of which knocked Danny to the ground with a thud yet again.

Sam and Tucker arrived seconds later, helping him back to his feet.

"Wow. That thing has its own special ghost wail," said Tucker.

"Yeah, well, two can play at that game." Danny leaped back into the air and tossed the thermos back to Sam. "Keep the thermos ready. I might need backup."

Some things might have changed, but it still took a bit of effort for Danny to perfect the ghost wail, even after years of practice. He did his best attempt, though, building up his strength as he flew quickly toward the creature, which turned around to face him again. Danny stopped in front of it, glaring into its crimson gaze.

" _Leave this place ALONE_!"

The last syllable was somewhat muffled, caught in the rage of the impossibly loud ghost wail, which rocked through the campus square in a burst of green rays. It knocked the wolf ghost back into the giant field behind it, where students once lazing about ran for their lives. Its paws dug into the grass, leaving skid marks as it came to a halt and snarled back up at Danny.

Danny looked back at his friends, who were running to the scene with the Fenton thermos at the ready, before he shot toward the field as well, streaking through the air in an effort to catch and hold the ghost before it could get away.

When he arrived, the ghost merely glanced up at him, not moving any further. It let out a menacing growl that shook the ground it was crouched on, causing Sam to lose her balance as she aimed the thermos toward it.

But she never got the chance to use it.

Once the ghost got its last word, it began to fade into the shadows of a nearby tree, trickling away little by little, until it disappeared completely. Danny flew over to where it last stood, attempting to find its invisible body in the darkness, but he couldn't.

It was gone.

The area was unusually quiet as everyone recovered in confusion and fear. Most of the confusion lay mostly with Danny and his friends.

"What just happened?" asked Tucker, leaning over to catch his breath. "Where'd it go?"

Danny landed back on the ground, trying to catch his breath, too; performing the wail sometimes knocked the wind out of him. "It… chickened out, I guess."

"You scared it away?" Tucker leaned back to normal stature and high-fived him. "Nice one."

Sam wasn't really celebrating.

They started trudging back to the center, finding that the building wasn't as destroyed as they thought. Danny only felt relief about the whole situation, finding that this was one of his easier battles, though when he looked at Sam, something about her expression made him ask what she was thinking. He already figured out the answer seconds before she responded.

"Vengeful ghosts leaving on their own usually isn't a good sign," said Sam, frowning. "That means they usually have something else planned."

" _Or_ they've chickened out," Tucker added.

"Either way, it's over now." Danny walked through the now unguarded front door of the welcome building, where people were still recovering from the mess. "Now we can go back to some normalcy."

With another flash of light, he casually returned to human form just as he walked through the door of the lobby, only to be received by a crowd of stares. Silence reigned for the longest time as everyone, including Danny himself, processed the most recent events.

"I'm a mayor," said Tucker after clearing his throat for attention. "Kinda. I'll find a way to pay for this. Don't worry."

Danny looked in the direction of the once-cheerful tour guide, who was still hiding behind a fallen table, her eyes wide. He cleared his throat, too.

"So, uh, where to first?"


	3. Fenton Works

[ **Author's Note** : Thanks to those who have reviewed or favorited this story in such a short amount of time! I love seeing your feedback! As for updates, I know these chapters are being spit out pretty fast, but I've actually had a few chapters of this already written, so that's why they're out so fast right now. I am starting classes in a few days, so I probably won't be updating as quickly after that, but you can definitely expect that I will still be working on this and updating as frequently as I can. Thanks again and enjoy. :) ]

* * *

"Danny, you're back so early!"

He was assaulted by a hug from his mother when he walked into his house with Tucker and Sam at his side. His friends smiled knowingly, moving around them.

"We didn't really care to stick around," said Danny, sucking in a breath when she let go.

"The trip was, like, four hours," Sam said, sitting in one of the chairs nearby. "We kind of had to leave early if we wanted to get back before dark."

"It was only two hours," said Danny.

"Yeah, well, it feels longer when Tucker decides to sing."

Tucker started humming the last song that played on the radio, until Sam whacked him on the back of his hat, causing it to flip.

"Hey." He adjusted it back onto his head. "Watch the beret, lady."

"So, was it eventful?" Maddie asked. "The tour, I mean. Did you have fun?"

"Well, it was eventful," said Danny, plopping down in a chair at the kitchen table. "We had to take our own tour eventually. There was a ghost there for a few minutes, but—"

Suddenly there was clamoring in the basement.

Sam and Tucker expectantly counted down from three with each group of hurried steps up the stairs, so that Jack Fenton burst into the kitchen at "one" on the dot.

" _Where_?" he bellowed.

"At the school. We took care of it," said Danny.

"Benevolent or malevolent?" Maddie asked curiously.

"Enough of that, Maddie—Was it good or bad?" said Jack.

Danny could only smile; ever since his family had found out his secret, they stopped grouping together ghosts as a whole and aimed to understand that not all ghosts were entities just waiting to be ripped apart molecule by molecule. His dad's enthusiasm for ghost hunting was still relentless, though; he wouldn't be Jack Fenton if it wasn't.

"Don't know. It was chasing one of the students and then it chased me, so I guess it wasn't one of the good guys."

"I knew it," Jack hissed.

"Oh, Danny." Maddie looked at him as if she had just been reminded of something. "Speaking of ghosts—" ("When aren't you?" Sam muttered.) "—we were wondering if you might want to help us with something."

Danny blinked. "What… kind of help are we talking about, here?"

"Oh, you know… You don't have to agree to it if you don't want to, but—"

"We need to extract some ectoplasm," Jack interjected, much less gentle about it than his wife, who looked back at him in exasperation for his bluntness.

Danny looked at his parents confusion, for they usually never tried to make him take part in any of their experiments or inventions, except for when they wanted to examine the ghost part of his DNA to better understand ghost biology.

"For _what_?"

"We're making a new gadget that shoots specially concentrated ectoplasm!" said Jack eagerly. "We just need to be able to replicate some for it."

"Is it a bazooka? I hope it's a bazooka," said Tucker.

Jack looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Who told you?"

"I, uh, I guess," said Danny. Sam discreetly took his hand under the table. "Do we have to do it now, though?"

"Of course not, Danny. Come on, dear, no more ghost talk," Maddie added, glancing at her husband.

Jack pouted.

"I mean it." Maddie gave Jack a warning look, leaving him to sigh and return to the basement. Maddie smiled, watching him go, before rejoining the teens at the table.

"So, have you been making that invention while I was gone?" Danny asked.

"Yes. It's… still got some kinks to work out, though."

As if on cue, there was a sudden mini-explosion that briefly shook the floor.

" _I'm okay_!" Jack yelled. "Portal's not."

"We've also been trying to work on the ghost portal," Maddie continued, pretending as if the noise never happened as she walked over to the counter. "Who wants coffee?"

"Not me," said Tucker. "Coffee gives me indigestion."

"I thought you made a new ghost portal," Sam mused. "Or did that one get destroyed, too?"

"Oh, not destroyed," Maddie said with a casual wave of the hand. "We're just trying to make it so that we can better control it."

The Fentons had left the ghost portal's remains idle for weeks since the "accident" years before that rendered it useless, but the ghost zone itself seemed to have other ideas in mind. It was as if it knew that a portal had been there before, so after a while, a new one appeared in the same spot without the aid of Fenton technology, occasionally opening on cue at certain times throughout the day. It took a few years for Jack to gain the gumption to rebuild the portal on his own terms, but even now, with his enthusiasm in full force, it was a bit harder to work on finishing it, with the ghost zone appearing at its designated times.

So while they waited, they did their best to combat whatever came through on its own volition. Luckily for them, ghost-fighting technology was readily available, so that if Danny wasn't there to help, the ghosts were usually blasted back into the zone by his parents.

"It's been a big effort," Maddie continued with a sigh. "You should join us sometimes, Sam, Tucker."

"Pass," said Sam. "I'm not the mechanic type."

"I have mayor duties," said Tucker casually.

Three years strong and Sam was still adamant about said duties. "Like what? You're not really even a mayor, Tucker… It's mostly for ceremonial purposes."

"Why do you hate my happiness?" Tucker replied.

"Cream or sugar?" Maddie interrupted, putting a cup of coffee in front of Sam.

"Neither. I like it black, like my soul," said Sam lightly.

"Like that ghost's soul," said Tucker, munching on something he stole from the Fenton's pantry.

"Okay, okay, no more ghost talk now." Maddie smiled, sitting down with the trio at the kitchen table. "There's always time for that. I want to hear _all_ about the school."

Danny, as usual, didn't have too much to say on the matter, so Sam did most of the talking, telling her about what the university had to offer. Maddie listened keenly to what they had to say (even Jack, who was eavesdropping from his work in the basement and loudly offered that Danny create his own major for ghost biology).

"I know way too much ghost biology as it is, Dad!"

"Anyway." Maddie looked between Sam and Danny. "Are you thinking of going to that school, then?"

"I don't know. I'm still thinking about it, I guess," said Danny. "College isn't really my thing, but it might be my only chance…"

"Well, you have plenty of time to think about it." Maddie patted his hand. "You have plenty of chances, and it's your choice. We'll support whatever choice you make."

"Thanks, Mom."

"I wrote some information, if you want to look. You know, help him decide," said Sam, handing Maddie her pamphlet, which still had her writing scribbled down the margins.

Maddie looked at it peculiarly, gesturing to the stain of green goo that marked the middle of the page, where the tip of the paper airplane was.

"Is this ectoplasm?"

"Ghost eye gunk," said Tucker.

"So, yeah," said Danny. "Ectoplasm."

It took Tucker a moment to process what he meant. "Dude, you have _ectoplasm_ in your eyes?"

"Why do you think they turn green, Tuck?"

"You know what, forget about you doing this, Danny," said Maddie gleefully. "This will be much easier to duplicate."

"Good… I hate needles."

After some more talking, Maddie decided to go back to help Jack with the portal, especially after he came to the top of the stairs with ashes and dust coating his face.

"If you need anything, just holler," she called.

"Actually, if it's okay with you guys, I'm gonna go to Sam's and maybe stay there tonight," said Danny. "She's gonna help me study for my test tomorrow."

"And that's my cue to leave," said Tucker, getting to his feet. "I think I've had enough academic enlightenment for one day. I've got stuff to do."

"Mayoral duties or video games?" Sam mused, smirking.

"Both." Tucker opened the door. "I regret nothing. See ya."

"Bye," the others chorused.

Jack cut in as he stood at the door of the lab, asking, "So, you're going to stay the night at your girlfriend's? In her room? Without supervision? Alone?"

He paused, gazing at them for what felt like the longest time, until he shrugged.

"All right, you kids have fun!"

He disappeared back into the lab. Maddie said nothing further, following him down the steps with the pamphlet in tow.

"Didn't you want to keep that?" Danny asked Sam.

"Nah. It's not that important."

"Well, then. Shall we take the scenic route?" Danny asked with a smile, transforming into his ghost half in a snap.

"I thought you'd never ask."

He scooped her into his arms and took off into the skies, but not without Sam aggressively pulling the door closed behind her.

They lingered about in the air for a while, taking in the surroundings of Amity Park. It was a beautiful day, with the green of late spring blossoming on trees, clear blue skies, and just the right amount of sun to warm everyone up after a long winter. At long last, though, the sun started setting, and they knew they couldn't stay out for much longer if they wanted to get anything done, so they ventured off to Sam's place.

Danny ducked behind the railing of the front steps to briefly turn back human before following Sam inside. Often, it came second nature for him to hide before going ghost or vice versa, as he was just so used to doing so before. In this case, though, he felt that he had to; Sam told him that her parents disapproved of Danny's ghost side, to the point where they constantly badgered Sam to break up with him for fear of her involvement.

The first time it happened was about a year after the Disasteroid, when they were sixteen. They had kept quiet about it for a while, perhaps attempting to understand Sam's point of view after their involvement in saving the world - or even just attempting to blissfully ignore the fact that Danny was a ghost at all. At one point, though, there was no chance of ignoring it any longer, especially with the Ghost Zone acting unpredictably and with Danny having to take care of it. First their concerns were for Sam's safety, but later on it turned into an all-out war against how centered Danny's life was around ghosts when he returned from a fight, somewhat battle-bruised.

"He is not good for you, Samantha," her mother said after realizing that Sam had been there with him. "He's dangerous!"

"I've been fighting ghosts with him for years," Sam hissed. "Nothing's happened to me, because we work great together, and we always have. Right, Danny?"

Danny only nodded, now quite sure he would rather take on some more ghosts than take on the Manson family's anger.

"And his parents are crackpots who experimented on their own son and made him a ghost!" Her father continued. "Those people are walking disasters waiting to happen."

"Guess who has _saved_ you from disasters more than caused them?" Sam reached over and snatched Danny back by the collar just as he tried to silently exit the scene. He jerked back with a grunt, looking at the Mansons with wide eyes. "This guy. Guess who's also not breaking up with this guy? This girl." She pointed at herself with her free hand.

"Sa _mantha_."

"It's okay, Danny. They just don't like it when someone is _different_ and _unique_ ," said Sam haughtily, now pulling at Danny's arm.

"Again with that nonsense!" her mother huffed.

"Come on, let's go." Sam hastened to the stairs nearby with Danny in tow. When she got to the top of the steps, she threw her head back and called dramatically, "I'm just gonna go _make love_ to my _ghost boyfriend_ and have his _ghost BABIES_!"

There was the sound of plates crashing to the floor, followed by her mother yelling, " _I - do - not - want - you - to - have - ghost - BABIES_!"

("I DO!" yelled Sam's grandmother from the other room.)

"'Make love?'" Danny said dryly as he followed her to the bathroom upstairs, where Sam grabbed a wet towel from the sink and turned around to dab at the dirt on his face leftover from the ghost fight.

"Archaic word choice, I know. I'm just spiting them," Sam muttered. "Just ignore them, okay? They'll come around."

From then on, they never talked about ghosts around her parents again. Danny liked to think that they had reverted back to their blissful ignorance phase and, like some others that weren't as in the know, referred to Phantom and Fenton as two separate entities. As long as it didn't jeopardize his relationship with Sam, Danny decided not to worry much more about it.

Presently, the ever-so-human Danny walked with Sam into the room.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Manson," he greeted, lingering briefly at the doorway of the living room as he walked with Sam. The parents, donned in colorful clothes as usual, only looked up at him wordlessly. "We're just going to st—" He was abruptly cut off when Sam pulled him by the arm and out of frame. He eyed her. "Study."

"As long as you're not taking me to Circus Gothica, they don't care. Come on."

They got to work on the studying, mostly with Sam asking him test questions and Danny lying on her bed, tossing a bouncy ball up and down as he tried to answer. He wasn't doing a very good job.

"You need to focus, Danny," said Sam coolly, reaching over him and catching the ball.

"I am! This is how I focus."

"Then you're probably not going to get a good grade."

When would he ever?

Danny sighed, sitting up. "Well, if I don't know it now, I probably won't know it tomorrow."

"That's the attitude," said Sam sarcastically.

"The senioritis attitude," he replied.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Senioritis."

"It's a thing. Look it up."

Eventually, their efforts to study became futile, with Sam too bored with the material to go any further on it as well. After a while of tossing paper airplanes of their notes back and forth, they opted to do something fun instead. So by the time late night rolled around, they were huddled together, watching a horror movie. Unlike the easily scared Tucker, Danny didn't find much of it horror anymore after all the ghost fighting, and Sam was never afraid of horror anyway, so they spent most of the time poking fun at the film's cheesy effects.

They were nearing the end of the movie when that familiar chill worked its way through Danny's body again. His eyes automatically glanced over at the window, where whatever ghost was there must have been lurking.

"I'll be right back," he said.

Sam made a half-asleep mumble in response, waving her hand in his general direction.

Danny phased through the ceiling and crouched expertly on the rooftop, scanning the area for any paranormal signs. He even went intangible for a bit, wondering if a ghost might be hiding until the coast was seemingly clear—but he couldn't see anything. He couldn't feel anything. No ghost was in sight.

He slipped back through the window, returning to human form and looking around the room, only to find that Sam was now sound asleep, the lights of the TV flickering on her face.

"Only you could fall asleep to the sound of chainsaws," said Danny, turning the TV off.

He wasn't nearly as tired, even as he sat on the bed beside her, staring at the opposite wall. After a few moments of consideration, he looked back at the textbook on the floor, which sat with Sam's scattered notes from class.

He thought about what he was there for and what he hadn't really done enough of, and he sighed in defeat.

"Might as well," he muttered.

So he took the book and studied in the dark, using his glowing finger as a flashlight.


	4. Ghost Breath

Poke.

"Danny."

Pause.

Slightly more impatient poke.

" _Danny_."

"If you're some kind of ghost, I'm not in the mood," Danny murmured.

 _Excruciatingly painful poke_.

"Ow!" Danny jerked awake fully, blearily scanning his surroundings. The room was dark; Sam's curtains were still drawn shut, while Sam herself contentedly leaned back, examining her nails.

"That hurt," he said, rubbing his arm.

"Please." Sam hurried over to her closet while he watched in a barely awake stupor. "Come on, we're gonna be late. I forgot to set my alarm."

"Yeah, I know." Danny sat up, stretching. "You fell asleep at the chainsaw scene."

Danny slipped off the bed, fiddling through his backpack, which lay haphazardly among their wreckage of notes and books. He glanced up at ask Sam something but promptly forgot when he saw her moving to change her shirt. He respectfully closed his eyes, even covering them with one hand as he continued blindly trying to find his books. When he was sure that she was done, he opened them again, just in time to see her letting out a massive, wholly unattractive yawn.

"Do you happen to know where my History book is?" he asked. "Or, um, all of my books?"

"At your house, remember? You forgot your stuff. That's why we had to use mine."

"Ah, crud. Lancer's gonna kill me if I forget my book report again."

"Well, we'd better hurry and get it, then."

Early in the morning before school, Danny and Sam hastened back to Fenton Works to retrieve his school work, taking their favorite scenic route by air. When he landed at the front steps, he told her to wait there and ran up the stairs to get his books from his room—only to find his mother holding them for him at the top of the steps as she exited his bedroom.

"Uh?" was all Danny could utter.

"Oh, good, you're back! I was just about to call you so you could get this." She arrived at the bottom of the stairs and tossed the stack of books to Danny, who buckled slightly under the weight when he caught it. "From the looks of it, you didn't study much after all…"

"If his name is Danny Fenton, he probably didn't," said the voice of Tucker at the doorway, waving at Danny's mother.

"Right on cue," Sam muttered before glancing back at Danny's mother. "We shared my books."

Maddie sighed. "You leaving now?"

"Yup," said Danny. "Just had to make a pit stop."

"All right, well, have a good day at school. Oh, I think your father wanted to see you before you go, though."

"Your father does indeed!" said the boisterous voice of Jack from behind, lifting his mask to reveal his face still covered in soot.

"Have you been working on the portal all night?" Danny asked. He cringed when the post-invention stench on his dad's jumpsuit came nearer. "Without showering?"

"Not all night… Well, not on the portal at least. Behold!" Jack held out a small white container, practically shoving it in his son's face.

"Um, what am I beholding here?"

"Looks like floss," added Sam.

"Fenton Floss!" said Jack. "Extra durable, minty fresh, _and_ —" He cupped his hands around the object, cloaking it in a momentary darkness. "Glow in the dark."

"He wanted to try out something new," said Maddie, sighing. "Wouldn't sleep until he finished."

" _Glow in the dark_ , Maddie."

Danny hesitantly took the floss, ignoring Sam's smirk, which practically burned into the back of his head. "And… why are you giving this to me?"

"You never know when you might need it," said Jack.

"Thanks. I'll keep this in mind next time I feel the need to pick my teeth."

"We've also been working on those new gadgets for your friends," his father continued, seemingly oblivious of Danny continually trying to gravitate back to the door. "That bazooka didn't take that ghost's ectoplasm well, but we'll keep trying."

"Who needs a bazooka, anyway?" Sam lifted her hand, showing off her oft-used watch from years before. "This is _much_ easier to carry."

"I never said you could keep that, you know."

"This was before you guys knew about Danny," Tucker cut in. "Any prior ghost hunting equipment is therefore immune to parental permission."

"That's not true," said Jack.

"It is. It's the fundamentals of ghost-child parenting. I should know. I'm the mayor."

Sam rolled her eyes and tugged on Danny's sleeve. "Anyway, we kind of have to go."

Jack waved them off. " _All right_ , all right, go to school before you're late."

"Good luck on your test, Danny!" Maddie called, pulling her tight hood over her face and speeding down the stairs after her husband, who had immediately started raging about the bazooka again.

Danny shut the door behind him.

"I see I'm not the only one doomed to a family of morning people," Sam muttered, rubbing her eyes in tiredness as they started walking down the street.

"This is news to you?"

"Not really. It's just weird to see it in action. It's like they don't know what sleep is."

"They tell me they wake up to the 'prospects of science,' but I think maybe they just have too much caffeine."

"Honestly. How do you survive?"

"Usually I just try to pretend they don't exist for a few hours," said Danny. "Jazz would've kept them busy talking, but now that she's at Yale, they're more focused on talking to me. Sometimes I wish they didn't know about my powers again."

"Well, now they're focused on other things." Sam wrapped her arms around the boys' shoulders, sighing. "And now we can focus on other things, too."

"Like the test?"

"Sure," said Sam lightly. "Or maybe the fact that you forgot your book report _again_."

Great.

Test time came way too soon. Danny stared at the mostly blank paper, clutching at his hair as he tried to form words, but no words would come to mind. The substitute teacher administering the test was sitting in the chair at the front, reading a book, his feet propped on the desk.

Scribbling. Erasing. Scribbling some more. He was fairly sure that one of his classmates was crying or else praying, but he didn't dare try to look. He could only sympathize. Then he could only panic.

How was he going to be an astronaut if he couldn't even complete a physics midterm?

The idea of time wasted not studying made him want to kick himself now, but he merely stayed there, trying to avert his thoughts from desperation and back to what was in front of hm.

He _knew_ this formula. He studied it last night, not long before he fell asleep. _What was the formula?_

He briefly glanced at Sam, who seemed to be going through the exam much more easily than others. She always was pretty adept at any kind of science; he supposed she had to be if she kept wanting to be a part of all the nuances of ghost hunting while also endorsing her own aggressive array of activism.

Sam seemed to sense him watching, for she briefly met his gaze. She pointedly looked at his test before looking back at her own, as if to say he shouldn't let his eyes wander.

"Is something wrong, Mister…?"

Danny snapped back to normal stature, looking forward to see that the substitute teacher was staring directly at him. "Uh, Fenton. And, no."

Suddenly, his whole body screamed with that familiar chill. It worked its way up through his body until he let out a visible breath of air.

 _Really? Now_?

"I mean… yes," he said grudgingly. "There is."

The substitute opened his mouth, likely about to ask Danny to clarify, but he was immediately cut off when there was the sound of heavy footsteps on the rooftop, followed by an echoing roar that shook the trees outside.

"You again," Danny hissed, glancing out the window to see the massive shadow of the ghost he had fought at the college.

The classroom started murmuring, some sitting up to look out the window while others more in the know looked at Danny expectantly. Danny sat up nervously.

"Go for it, bro!" Kwan yelled from the back of the room.

"What's going on?" The substitute wiped his brow. "I mean, calm—Calm down, everyone. I'm sure it's nothing."

Danny looked back at the substitute with wide eyes. "I, uh—Sorry about this."

He jumped onto his desk and transformed in a flash of light before bounding across the students' desks and propelling himself through the window. Sam reached for her watch and got to her feet to go help, though not without picking up her papers from the floor in slight annoyance.

Danny ignored the shocked gaze of the teacher, phasing through the glass of the window and looking around. Ordinarily he would have ducked under the table or simply gone intangible, but the threat was apparent now; no one was paying attention to their test.

Danny was relieved to be able to take a break from the test—but he was also irritated, especially when the shadow became larger outside. Why did it follow him home, and why now?

The giant ghost had just pounced off the roof when Danny appeared behind it, snatching it by the foot and lobbing it across the yard. The wolf yowled in surprise, crashing into the ground.

"Did you miss me?" Danny hovered in front of it. "Look, I know we've had fun times in the past, but this is getting out of hand."

The ghost growled, flying into the air and charging at Danny. He dodged a few of the ghost's deadly barks, even putting up a shield when it became too much, something he had finally learned to do with ease over the years. Even so, it knocked him backwards in the air until he caught himself.

"But don't worry," he continued, finding that banter helped him with ghost-fighting nerves more than anger did. "It's not you, it's me."

He blasted the ghost with a series of ecto-energies, zipping around the ghost's counterattacks. Then, while the ghost recovered from one of his attacks, Danny paused.

"Well, actually, it _is_ you."

The ghost wolf glared him in the eyes with its red ones before it charged at him in the air, focusing on him a raging bull. Danny leaped out of the way so that it blew past him; neither had the chance to recover when an unexpected blast of light hit the ghost on its black side.

Danny looked down, seeing the red-suited Valerie speeding up to join the fight on her board. She stopped beside him, waving her ray gun briefly in the air. "Ole!"

Rather than harboring dread as he might have felt years before, Danny could only feel relief that there was someone to help. He and Valerie had completely flipped their relationship on its head over the past few years—at least, their relationship with Danny Phantom. It started basically the day after everyone's efforts to save the world were successful; Valerie, in her ghost-fighting suit, saw Danny at one point and told him he had forgotten something…

" _What?" he asked. Oh man. Did he somehow lose his pants again? "What'd I forget?"_

" _You forgot to tell me who you actually were… Danny." She tossed the muddy remains of a once-discarded Danny Phantom doll at him, and he caught it in surprise. "I mean, I've kind of had a hunch lately that it might be you, ever since I found out that half ghosts exist."_

 _Danny blinked in confusion. "Why did you think it might be me?"_

" _I don't know. A lot of coincidences between you and Phantom. It kind of added up." Valerie frowned. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"_

" _I mean… I didn't tell anyone. A lot of people wanted to rip me apart," said Danny coolly. "Including you. I mean, I might've deserved it sometimes, but…" He hesitated, rubbing the nape of his neck. "Valerie, I'm... sorry about your father's job. And... you know, ruining your life."_

 _"You didn't ruin my life. Well, for a while I felt like you did, but then I realized, with this job"-she gestured to her board-"how crazy ghost hunting can be. How things can happen too fast." She looked at him thoughtfully. "How people can change."_

 _Danny didn't respond, only staring at her._

" _I probably would've let you off the hook earlier if I'd known you were just trying to help," she continued, tilting her head to look at his much different human form, which only stared back at her. "But things happen. Then again, I guess things don't have to change too much. I'm always up for a game if you are."_

" _How about we forget the game and work together instead?" Danny suggested._

 _Valerie smiled, clicking her feet together so that she swiftly returned to the normal, significantly less threatening version of Valerie that he had come to know._

" _Deal."_

Presently, Danny came back to reality, looking over as his ally Valerie zoomed over to his side. "Thanks. I thought you had a test," he said, knowing her to be in Mr. Lancer's class then.

"I thought you did, too, Ghost Boy, but hey… Things happen." Valerie abruptly pointed the gun just behind him, her eyes wide. "We've got company."

Danny whirled around, seeing two more ghosts headed their way. They looked to be wearing black armor the same color as the shadowy ghost nearby. Their faces, if they even had any, were covered by their helmets, which were the same color green as their bodies. They were tall, fast—and judging by their speed, they wanted something. Badly.

But it wasn't the other ghost they were looking for.

Valerie blasted at them again, speeding toward them. Danny was just about to follow when he fell prey to the paw again; he was swiped violently in the air, and he found himself rocketing back to the school, which was rapidly becoming closer and closer—

He phased through it and darted through a room full of other test-takers, leaving him wondering if teachers purposely planned their tests on the same day just as revenge for students talking in class.

Danny didn't think further on this when the wolf ghost followed him through the wall, letting out the ferocious bark once more. It knocked all papers off of the desks and further knocked Danny and some students back. Danny realized that the wolf was chasing him now and shot out of the room and down the hallway, hoping to tire it long enough to catch it.

The wolf bounded through the school after him, appearing out of thin air once being intangible no longer seemed like an option. Danny whirled around with an ecto-blast at the ready, only to find himself knocked back again. The ghost snatched him with its sharp claws, throwing him back against the lockers. The impact was so strong that one of the lockers opened beside Danny's head, but Danny was now more focused on the snarling wolf that hovered before him, ectoplasmic saliva seeping from its bared teeth.

Then, to Danny's surprise, the ghost spoke.

"Give… me… the girl…"

"You can talk?" Danny blinked, processing this. "What's with ghost wolves and Esperanto?"

The wolf roared, sending waves of anxiety to the one pinned down by its power, and further anxiety when its claws dug into his skin, rendering him in unimaginable pain so that his yell of anguish echoed through the hall.

Then, when he cleared his head just enough to briefly ignore the pain, Danny shakily phased through the locker behind him and out of the ghost's clutches.

The ghost didn't have time to react when Danny quickly shot back out and slammed the open locker door into its head, so hard that the door cleanly came off its hinges.

This only made it angrier, especially when he started to fly away. The ghost didn't care about intangibility or pretenses anymore, charging after him and knocking into everything in its way, letting out the occasional powerful roar to send him off his feet. Danny grimaced as he turned the corner, trying to block the sound and its more devastating effects away.

" _The Amulet's Flaw,_ people, what's going on here?" Mr. Lancer's droning voice echoed through the hall as he appeared outside his classroom, watching the scene from the doorway with a coffee mug that read WORLD'S OKAYEST TEACHER. He then dropped the mug with a crash to the tiled floor when he saw what was chasing Danny.

The wolf was about to run into him in its fervor, so Danny wordlessly snatched Mr. Lancer by the front of his shirt and rather unceremoniously threw him aside, just as the wolf plowed through the hall in his place.

Mr. Lancer blinked, watching as Danny disappeared through a door at the end of the hall. After a pause of consideration, he then ran over and knocked on it, yelling, " _I want that book report by tomorrow, Fenton_!"

Danny hardly registered what he said as he burst through the empty lunchroom and escaped back outside to prevent any further damage. The ghost followed him out with another haunting bellow of, " _Give me the girl_!"

Danny whirled around in the air to face it once they were in the clear. "If you're talking about the girl at the school, she's not here, and she never will be! Congratulations, ghost breath, you followed the wrong people! So _get_ —OUT!"

His blast of energy was thwarted too easily.

He glanced down, seeing that a few students were watching out the window, while most of the others hid. Sam and Tucker had joined him outside, though they didn't seem to notice he was there as they helped Valerie fend off the two smaller ghosts.

Valerie must have heard him, though, for she pointed directly at him. "Ghost breath at two o'clock, Danny!"

Danny instantly surrounded himself with a shield so that the wolf's attack was a mere blunt to the side. He then gritted his teeth, trying to figure out how to disable the wolf without the thermos readily available. The wolf only attacked again, unrelenting, letting out the ghostly bark that shook the earth. Danny grimaced at not just the sound, but the smell, as he tried to avoid it.

Then he paused in the air, catching his breath as Valerie's words repeated in his head.

Ghost breath.

"That's it."

Danny tried not to think extensively about how ridiculous this was going to be. He reached into his pocket, taking out the floss that Dad had given him.

Valerie, Sam, and Tucker had all managed to take care of the ghostly guards and were now headed toward Danny. Valerie zoomed up beside him, somewhat crouched on her board, until she noticed what was in his hand.

"What… is that?" she asked, standing up again.

"Fenton Floss."

"You've _got_ to be kidding me."

"Just go with it. You guys try to distract him, all right? Sam, you got the thermos?"

"Tucker does."

"Right here, dude!"

"Then follow my lead!" said Danny, pulling as much of the string out of the small container as he could. "It keeps using the ghost wail power. If we stop that, we stop the ghost."

Valerie sighed before shooting off to pelt the ghost with balls of energy. Sam was just behind her on the ground, running toward it with a determined expression as she tried to shoot it in the face with her energy-shooting watch.

"I really wish I had that bazooka now," Tucker huffed before following her.

Danny pulled out the entire contents of the container, wrapping it around his hands as he neared the ghost, which was trying to fight all three teenagers at once, letting out barks in all different directions.

"Seriously, someone needs to train you not to bark at strangers," said Danny as he arrived, using his free hand to shock it with a blast of ecto-energy.

When the ghost was ever so slightly distracted, Danny turned intangible and moved the floss off of his hand, holding it like a lasso as he zoomed around the wolf's mouth. It reacted by trying to bite at him, only to yelp when he tied one end of the floss to one of his shining teeth.

The ghost reacted by blindly swiping its giant paw in the air, which promptly knocked Valerie off her board, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Val!" Danny looked back at her, feeling a rush of relief when she shakily picked herself up, offering a thumbs-up to signify that she was okay, then shooting him a glare.

"Sorry."

Danny evaded another swipe and pulled at the string so that the wolf jerked forward somewhat, newly disabled from Danny's attempts as well as Sam and Tucker's continual blasts. Danny then flew multiple times around its black snout, so that with each round, its barks became more and more muffled, less and less powerful. Eventually, Danny finished off the makeshift rope and tugged hard in an attempt to clamp the monster's mouth shut.

Something about the floss's properties made the ghost unable to phase through or go intangible. But even without the extra ghost help, the creature was durable, and far more determined than anything else. It shook with fury and thrashed about in an attempt to knock Danny's grasp away, leaving Danny fighting to keep it there.

Danny could feel it breaking. It was floss, after all, no matter how durable it could be. Danny clenched his teeth, sweating as he pulled at it with all his might, trying to tighten it more. The ghost's barks were coming back, vengeful and ripping deep in its throat.

"Tucker!" he yelled.

"Way ahead of you!"

Suddenly the ghost's struggling stopped. There came a bright iridescent light, which was about to envelop Danny until he let go and jerked himself away from the pull. The ghost thought itself free, snapping out of the floss's hold and making to charge at all of them—but the pull was far too strong, sucking it toward the Fenton thermos like gravity.

The last thing Danny heard was an anguished howl before the light disappeared and Tucker clamped the thermos shut.

Danny weakly came back to earth, landing with a light thud on his back rather than his feet, purely out of exhaustion. His arms were throbbing at his sides.

Something white caught his eye, and he turned his head, only to find that he had landed directly where the remnants of the Fenton Floss lay on the grass.

"Huh. Durable."

"Danny!"

He looked up, seeing Sam dashing toward him with wide violet eyes. "Oh, you're hurt."

"Nothing some ghost healing can't fix," said Danny with a humorless laugh, stretching out his arms to examine them. There were tears in his black sleeves, with bloody gashes where the ghost's claws had been. "I'm fine. Just… give me a second." He let in and out a deep breath. "What about you guys? Valerie?"

"Valerie's fine. Just got a sore ass." Valerie grumbled, walking over to them and grimacing. "I'm supposed to have been back after a bathroom break, like ten minutes ago, but now I'm not so sure what to tell Mr. Lancer."

Danny was the only one with his secret exposed out of the two of them. Among her school peers, at least, Valerie's ghost hunting "job" was unknown, and she intended to keep it that way, even going so far as to make up excuses to help Danny every time a significant threat was around.

"Something tells me Mr. Lancer will understand," said Danny.

"And the substitute?" Tucker mused, nodding back at the window of the classroom as he handed the thermos back to Danny.

Danny looked up, seeing that the substitute teacher had his nose pressed to the window, his face pale in absolute horror. Purely to see his reaction, Danny casually returned to human form, and the man looked as if he might faint.

"We can probably arrange for a make-up exam," he said.

Tucker couldn't stop laughing as they walked back toward the school. "He _must_ be new here."

The rest of the school day ended up being far less eventful, even with Danny having to face the wild curiosity of the substitute teacher when he had returned anew. Most likely out of pure fear, he agreed to write a note to the actual teacher explaining the circumstances of a potential re-take of the exam.

In time, the school day ended—one day out of only a few months left in senior year. Danny was practically counting down the days, but at the same time, he wasn't quite sure if he was ready for the months to go by.

He returned home in somewhat of a stupor, trying to hide the gashes that he still needed to fix, finding that self-regeneration against equally powerful ghost wounds didn't help as much as he thought it might. He didn't say much to his parents, then, except for a brief trip down to the lab to return something to his father.

"Hey, Dad?"

Jack looked up from his work, lifting what appeared to be a welding mask away from his face. He let out a breath with puffed cheeks. "Yes, my boy?"

Danny tossed the empty container back so that Jack caught it in curiosity, looking down to find his own face, printed on the container, grinning sultrily back at him. Jack then looked inside it to find that it was empty except for a few haphazard strings left.

Danny smiled, making it a point to show his teeth.

"Thanks for the floss."


	5. Runaway

"So what was that ghost wolf doing there, anyway?"

Only a few days had passed since the ghosts' arrival at Casper High, and though many were used to ghost attacks now, all the people at the school were still buzzing about it—Danny and his friends included.

To them, the appearance of these ghosts was more of a mystery than anything else. Usually the ghosts that escaped the portal were there arbitrarily, just to cause some mayhem. But these ghosts were different. These ghosts were on a mission.

Unfortunately, they had no idea what that mission was.

"You mean Fluffy?" Tucker asked.

"You named it?"

"It's better than saying 'ghost wolf' all the time." Tucker bit into his cheeseburger, accidentally squirting grease onto the table.

They were sitting at the Nasty Burger in a corner booth, eating their lunch when the subject of the most recent events came up. Sam was somewhat more focused on the issue than the boys, who let their hunger lead the way first.

Sam tried to ignore the grease. "Anyway..."

"No idea why it was there," Danny replied, somewhat muffled with his mouth full of food.

"Gross, Danny. Cover your mouth," said Sam as she picked at her salad with a fork.

After taking another bite of meat, Danny jokingly leaned over with his lips puckered for a kiss. Sam smirked, shoving his face away.

"Anyway," Danny continued, "all I know about, uh, Fluffy was that it was after 'the girl.' And… that it spoke Esperanto."

"Neat," said Tucker, ever the recent language expert.

"The other ghosts were looking for her, too," said Sam, looking at Danny.

"The guards?"

"If that's what you want to call them. They didn't look like guards so much as… well…" Sam hesitated.

"Scientists," he guessed, remembering the masks on their faces. They seemed similar to his father's welding mask.

"It was the jumpsuits," said Sam eventually.

"Yeah. They should consider a different look. Only certain people can pull that off." Tucker glanced at Danny, who eyed him. Tucker then bit into his burger and added, "Looks good on you, though."

"Thanks," said Danny dryly. "So, what, all of these ghosts are looking for the same person?"

"Well, she's not quite a person," said Sam at last. She had been rummaging for something in her backpack during the exchange.

"Um, say that again?"

"Look." Sam took a somewhat glowing piece of paper out of her backpack and, after brushing some crumbs out of the way, set it onto the table.

"Is that what hit me on the face before?" Tucker asked.

"Maybe." Sam smoothed out the picture. "One of those ghosts dropped this when Valerie was fighting them."

On the page was the word MISSING and an eerie drawing of someone entirely too familiar.

"That's the girl from the college," said Tucker, adjusting his glasses. "Only she's…"

"A ghost," said Danny, recognizing the differences between ghost and human appearances.

The girl's pale blue skin was opaque but glowing, contrasting with the fiery tresses of green hair that framed her face. Her glowing eyes were wide; Danny wasn't sure if it was out of fear or madness.

"I didn't really look at it 'til last night, but since then, I've been thinking. It doesn't make sense." Sam propped her elbows onto the table, looking at the picture more closely. "She looked way different when we saw her. She didn't look like a ghost at all."

"Didn't act like one, either," said Danny. "She just ran away."

"Either way, what's she doing on Earth if she's supposed to be in the Ghost Zone?" Tucker mused.

"Running some more, I guess," said Danny. "If there are people searching for her, maybe she doesn't want to be found."

"Well, she's not here." Tucker shrugged. "So I guess that's their problem now."

"Not if those ghosts keep coming back. I wish there was a way for me to convince them that she isn't—" He let out a chilly breath and shuddered, finding that he felt it far too often. "—here."

"Are they back already?" Tucker asked, sitting up a little to look out the window.

"I doubt it," said Danny. "This keeps happening. I get my ghost sense but no ghost is around."

Sam considered this for a moment, staring at the picture that still frowned up at them on the table. "Are you sure about that?"

Danny was about to react when a familiar voice called his name from across the restaurant.

"Hey, Danny!"

He glanced up, seeing the tan-skinned, full-figured beauty of Paulina hastening across the room with a book in hand. With the end of the semester nearing in a little more than a month and a half, the school had distributed yearbooks just that day, leaving many students in a frenzy to get their classmates to sign them. Paulina, it seemed, was one of them.

"Uh, hi, Paulina," said Danny warily, getting to his feet.

"You need to sign my yearbook," she said, presenting the open yearbook eagerly. "You're the one of the last cool kids left to sign it."

"Cool? Really?"

"So, not us, then," said Sam coolly, leaning against the edge of the booth.

"Nope." Paulina beamed.

"I'll have you know that I'm the mayor," said Tucker, as though it would make any difference.

"I'll have you know that I don't care. Here's a pen," Paulina added sweetly, presenting it to Danny.

Knowing that his friends didn't really care about signing her yearbook anyway, Danny reached out to take it per Paulina's request, until the latter hesitated, briefly pulling away.

"I actually meant _other_ Danny."

Tucker's snort of laughter turned abruptly into a violent cough.

Danny was only able to stare at her for a few moments before he finally turned into Phantom and took the yearbook into his gloved hands. "You… _do_ know we're the same person, right?"

"Oh, I know," said Paulina simply. "But who else can say that they got their yearbook signed by the Ghost Boy?"

"Everyone at Casper High, probably," Tucker interjected.

"Well, I'm still the… Never mind." Danny looked down at the yearbook page, which was already nearly filled up as it was. Should he sign as Fenton or Phantom? What should he say? What was there to say at all?

He eventually settled with a rather crude drawing of the emblem on his chest, followed by a scribble of "/Danny Fenton" with a few exclamation points beside it for emphasis.

Paulina squealed the moment he clicked the pen, taking it back. She smiled flirtatiously. "Thanks! Call me, Ghost Boy - Or Danny."

"He's not a duality," said Sam, now standing next to Danny with her arms crossed. "Also not polyamorous. Bye."

Paulina looked at Sam in surprise, as if just realizing she was there—and then she huffed, walking away with her friend Starr. "See, this is why I drew devil horns on her yearbook photo…"

Sam reacted by putting her index fingers at the top of her head and hissing.

Danny tugged her hands down. "You enjoy rejecting Paulina now, don't you?"

"After years of her and Dash tormenting us?" Sam glanced over at Dash, who was standing on one of the tables, playfully trading blows with Kwan while using their yearbooks as blunt weapons. "I'm just saying, it has its perks."

Sam and Danny, somewhat less enthusiastic about their Nasty Burger meals than their meat connoisseur friend, eventually finished their lunch and started heading out the door. It was only when they exited that Danny realized he was still in his ghost form. Purely out of habit, he glanced around to make sure no one was watching before he returned to his human self fully out in the open.

"Three years ago, that would've been weird," said Tucker, catching the curious glances of passersby.

"It's still weird," said Danny. "It's still taken me this long to try not to be paranoid about it."

"Just leave that feeling for when you're around my parents," said Sam casually.

There was little room think any further on this when Danny saw something move out of the corner of his eye.

He looked over, seeing the very girl that they were talking about, who was hiding behind the corner. She still looked very much human rather than the ghost depicted on the missing notice, except for one similarity: her eyes were wide in absolute fear, especially when she peered around and noticed them looking at her.

"Hey!" Tucker yelled.

She jolted and hurried back behind the building.

"Way to go," said Sam.

Danny ignored them both, darting toward where he had last seen her, skidding as he rounded the corner. He couldn't let her go this time—not with the mere thought of her somehow making ghosts cause chaos in the human part of the world just to find her.

"Hey!" he echoed, trying to catch up with her as she ran just ahead of him down the street.

She briefly glanced back with gritted teeth and tried to run faster, so Danny took advantage of a better way to travel and transformed back into his ghost self, shooting down the road in the air, his shadowy tail trailing visibly behind him.

Noticing his arrival, the girl suddenly jerked out of his line of vision, darting toward the sidewalk and into an alleyway, this time not daring to look back as she maneuvered through the back areas. Danny shot a harmless ball of light toward her to stop her, allowing it to ricochet off the walls and head straight toward her. She managed to dodge it, but her victory was short lived; when she faced forward again, she crashed into some trash bins directly in front of her.

She fell to the ground, skidding on her bare knees and gasping out in pain. Still on the ground, she whirled around, staring up at Danny when he arrived, landing smoothly just before her.

Her breathing was erratic, her body likely entirely not used to running at all. She backed up so that her back was pressed against the brick wall behind her. "Don't hurt me—I just want to leave, just let me leave!"

"I don't want to hurt you," said Danny. "I just want answers, and I'm not gonna let you leave until I get them." He glanced at the knocked-over trash bins, silently reminding himself to thank the homeowner for leaving them out there.

She averted her eyes from the trash bins after trailing his gaze. "I—I thought I could—"

"Phase through them?"

The girl gazed up at him, still looking very much afraid, now doubled as she shakily hovered her hand over one scraped knee. Danny paused, returning to his human form again, and the girl crawled backwards a little, now more perplexed than anything else.

"How are you possible?"

"How are _you_ possible?" Danny echoed, crouching down in front of her. "Aren't you a ghost?"

"No." She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, as though trying to block out a thought. "I don't know… Not anymore."

"How?"

"Long story?" She put her hand to her head, as if to combat a headache.

Danny could hear the hurried footsteps of his friends coming down the alleyway to join him.

"Just… tell me, please," said Danny impatiently. "You being missing is putting other people in danger. Why are all these ghosts after you, and why did you bring them to Amity Park after the college? Why were you even _at_ the college?"

"Stop interrogating her, Danny," said the voice of Sam from behind.

"Yeah, man, she looks like she's about to pass out."

"I'll—" The girl seemed to be searching for words between her breaths. "I'll tell you everything, I promise, but…"

Danny realized that his friends were right. She looked as though she might faint. Her face was much paler, her eyes were tired, and her body was somewhat shaky as she struggled to get back to her feet. She glanced at the "missing" flyer that poked out of Sam's backpack and, realizing what all they probably knew, she finally but barely managed to get her next words out.

"I need your help."

Then she collapsed.


	6. It's a Long Story

It had only taken a short while to get from the alleyway to Fenton Works. It also didn't take long for the girl to stir after her collapse; she had woken up Danny's arms when they were flying to his home, while Tucker kept an eye out for anything suspicious below. (Sam, worried the girl might be dehydrated, went back to the Nasty Burger to get some water.)

"What?" was all the girl uttered, finding that she and Danny were invisible in the air.

"We're taking you somewhere safe," said Danny. "Just… try not to run away this time."

By the time they got to Danny's home, the girl was able to function enough to walk, so they attempted to sneak up to his room undetected.

Since this, in fact, was the Fenton household, their attempt was unsuccessful.

"Hey, Danny!" said Jack in the kitchen, moving aside some things in the refrigerator to find a specific snack. He reappeared with a slice of cake in his hand. "Who's your friend?"

"This is, uh—"

"She's a foreign exchange student," Tucker interjected, catching up with them. "From… Canada."

"Ooh, Canada!" Maddie poked her head into the room. "You know, we have relatives in Quebec. _Parlez-vous français_?"

"Huh?" said the girl.

"Huh?" said Jack.

Maddie sighed. "Never mind."

"Well, it's been a nice chat and all, but we have to go, uh, study." Danny pushed the girl across the hall and toward the stairs.

"Are they scientists?" the girl whispered.

"Just keep walking."

Tucker was left behind to close the door. He waved awkwardly at Danny's parents before hurrying after them up the steps.

"Seems like a nice girl," said Maddie fondly.

"Too nice." Jack pointed his cake toward the stairs. "And she's got freaky hair."

"What's your point?"

Jack narrowed his eyes. "That's no Canadian… That's a ghost."

"Honestly, Jack, every new person in Amity Park is not a ghost." Maddie took his plate. "Remember, we can't jump to conclusions, so… No cake for you."

"Fine, fine… She's not a ghost." Maddie contentedly gave him his cake back and walked away, leaving him to add under his breath, "…Maybe."

Sam finally arrived a few minutes after the others. She opened Danny's door with a somewhat sour expression.

"Ran into your parents." She shut the door behind her. "They think she's a ghost."

"Well, they're not wrong," said Danny.

Sam walked over to the girl, who was sitting on Danny's bed with her head in her hands.

"This is water." Sam placed the drink on the nightstand. "Humans have to drink water to survive, which is why you passed out after running for so long."

"I… know what water is."

"Then drink it."

The girl took the cup, frowning.

"Wow, you got the large one," said Tucker, sipping his own take-home cup of the same size.

"I should've just waited to use the tap," Sam mumbled, plopping down into the bean bag chair in the corner of the room. "The Nasty Burger's price for water is ridiculous."

"That's 'cause water's the only thing there that isn't nasty," said Tucker with a smile.

"Beg to differ," said the girl, putting down the cup.

"Oh, good, you're coherent," said Sam. "Now talk."

"Can you stop with the good cop, bad cop thing?" said Danny, plopping into his desk chair.

"Look, I want answers too. I'm not gonna let you and everyone else get put in danger because she can't stay in one place and confront those ghosts."

"Do I look like I belong in the Ghost Zone right now?" the girl asked. When nobody answered, she paused, then looking at Danny. "How… did you know that, anyway?"

"That what? That you're a ghost?"

She nodded.

Danny walked over to Sam's backpack, which was lying haphazardly on the floor, and slipped out the paper that read 'missing' on the top. The girl shakily took it into her hands, staring at the image, which stared back fearfully.

"Yeah, that's me." She hesitated. "Or… was me."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Tucker, who was idly playing a game on his cell phone.

The girl hesitated, perhaps unwilling to answer.

"It's okay," said Danny. "You can trust us."

"Yeah. We hunt ghosts for a living. _Ow_!" Tucker rubbed his arm after Sam punched it. "The _bad_ ghosts. We hunt the bad ghosts, sheesh."

The girl stared at them for a few moments, until she looked back at Danny. Something about him must have warmed her over, for she finally sighed, leaning forward to divulge.

"Well, it's a long story, so here's the short one. I was a ghost. Then I turned human after an accident."

"How can you accidentally turn human when you're a ghost?" Danny asked.

The girl gestured to a family photo and then to a clipping of Phantom from the newspaper the day they evaded the asteroid. "How can you accidentally go ghost when you're a human?"

"Right, uh… Touché. So how did this happen to you?"

The girl considered this for a while, playing idly with her hair. It was still green like the hair of her ghost counterpart, only to the human eye it looked like a dyed moss green instead of the fiery tresses that many ghosts had. For some reason, Tucker was staring at her with a tilted head, the game on his cell phone forgotten.

"I don't know exactly," she finally said. "I don't remember much."

"That's convenient," said Sam lightly.

"I wasn't awake when it happened. Then it was all a blur. All I know is that somehow I became human, and _they_ didn't know that humans and the Ghost Zone don't mix."

"Who's they?" asked Danny. "Those scientists?"

She nodded again, only to rear back when Tucker curiously poked her arm. Tucker caught her eye when she stared at him. "Just… making sure," he said.

Sam seemed to have the same questions as Tucker when it came to her human appearance. "How is it even possible? To turn a full ghost into a full human? I mean—"

"I guess those scientists were wondering the same thing," said Danny.

"So this wasn't even close to an accident, then," said Tucker.

"Unless you happened to be on the inside of a portal?" Danny figured it couldn't hurt to ask; with things seemingly working the opposite way in the Ghost Zone, it wasn't too far-fetched.

The girl only shook her head in response.

There was a moment of silence as they let this sink in.

"So, if it wasn't an accident… Why would they _want_ to turn you human?" Danny asked, looking back at the girl. "In the Ghost Zone, of all places?"

"I don't know," said the girl nervously. "They don't tell me anything."

That seemed to send Sam over the edge. "You're supposed to consent to this kind of stuff. Those ghost scientists are violating the code of honor that all scientists have to abide by in order to perform research. Even Danny's parents ask him before taking so much as a spit swab."

"Something tells me that these ghosts aren't really concerned about a code of honor, Sam."

Sam glanced at Danny, looking flustered, before she folded her arms across her chest and gave the girl a pitying side glance.

"So then how did you end up here?" Tucker asked her.

The girl sighed, finally dropping a strand of her hair, perhaps not used to being able to touch it. "After I escaped from them, I used my, um, _human abilities_ "—she wiggled her fingers—"and went through the Ghost Zone undetected."

"You phased through everything," Danny pointed out.

"Basically."

"Is that why you thought you could phase through things here, too?"

"No, um, that was just me forgetting. Anyway," she continued, "I eventually found the nearest portal to escape from them… I landed in the middle of a road and went down it until I got to that school." She looked at Danny. "That's where I first saw you."

"So… 'I just got here' wasn't exactly a lie," said Sam.

"I _was_ going to say that I was just there for orientation," she admitted. "I read it on a sign."

"Well, orientation there isn't for another month, so you would've blown your cover," said Danny casually.

She shrugged. "Either way, I escaped. Then I took another portal and landed here in Amity Park."

"Yeah, well, your friends landed here, too."

"They're not my friends. I keep trying to escape from them. They just keep finding me."

"So you're not luring these ghosts here," said Tucker, now much more interested in asking questions. He sat down her, his eyes wide. "You just want them to leave you alone."

"What was your first clue?" the girl asked. "The running?"

Tucker looked both taken aback and impressed. "Captain Sassy."

"So that's why those ghosts keep coming where you are," said Danny. "They want their experiment back."

"Even the ghost wolf?" asked Sam.

"Fluffy?" said the girl and Tucker simultaneously before they both looked at each other in surprise.

"Is that really its name?" Tucker asked.

"Yes." She hesitated. "I named her."

"It's a good name. You should keep it."

"How do you know about, uh, Fluffy?" asked Danny.

"She's the scientists' guard."

"Also their tracker, I'm guessing," said Sam.

"Yes. One of the best. And now they have all my information, my DNA, everything, so they have no trouble finding me. They probably know where I am now already."

"Unlikely," said Tucker.

When the girl only looked confused, Danny patted the back of his chair, where the Fenton Thermos sat in his backpack. "I guess you could say they're a little tied up."

The girl's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"For the time being," Sam cut in. "They can't stay in there forever. Especially if you keep bouncing it around," she added, eyeing Danny.

"Relax… My dad found a way to seal it more tightly."

Sam looked back at the girl, who was now drawing on her arm with her fingernail, fascinated by the brief white lines that showed up on her skin. "Why do you want our help? Or… Danny's help, anyway?"

"You might be my only chance of helping me turn back into who I really am. I only thought you were human before, but then I saw you again, and you—a ghost—you turned into the boy that helped me before."

"Man, actually," said the newly eighteen-year-old Danny, attempting to puff out his chest.

"Shut up," Sam muttered.

"…And I thought that you might know a thing or two about turning into a ghost."

Danny cleared his throat. "I don't know if I—if we can help. These ghost powers are from a lab accident, so we can't really… replicate it."

"Or can we?" Tucker began.

"The portal's still under construction, Tuck."

"Danny's right. There's no room to do what he did, and there's no chance it could happen again to someone else even if there was. If she was a ghost originally, maybe the further influence of the Ghost Zone would be too much for her."

"I will take whatever chances I can get to go back to being myself," said the girl. "Until that happens, though, I just need to lay low and figure everything out… even if that means hiding in Amity Park."

" _That_ we can help with," said Tucker.

It seemed as if all the girl's tenseness had finally melted away with those simple words. "Thank you."

"I can try to find out how to help you go back ghost," Danny added, frowning. "And my sister's doing a thesis on ghost psychology. She probably knows some ghost biology, too."

"Or else we just wait for his parents to rebuild the portal," said Sam. "Until then…" She trailed off, shrugging. "Welcome, I guess. You caught us at a very stress-free time."

Danny, who had been both fighting ghosts and considering his options for college within the past few days, scowled at his backpack full of papers. "Very."

"What's your name, by the way?" Tucker asked.

The girl froze. "I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know," she said. "I don't have one."

"Well… We're pretty good with names," said Tucker, gesturing back and forth between himself and her. "We'll just have to find you one."

The girl smiled, though it started to falter when silence reigned. She looked around Danny's room, examining each person individually (Sam was rummaging through her bag, and Tucker had finally returned to his video game). Then she looked out the window, only to avert her eyes after a few moments, as if the sun was blinding her.

She now appeared uncomfortable again, not that Danny could blame her. He recognized the expression because it used to be reflected in his mirror. When he got his ghost powers, he saw the world he already knew in a different light after phasing through walls and seeing blue eyes turn green; then when he was thrown into the Ghost Zone the very first time, the world he saw was new and strange and exciting, but it wasn't his to call home anymore.

Now, though, he had to wonder if the former ghost sitting across from him really had a place to call home at all.

"So… what now?" the girl asked at last, giving up on trying to be casual.

Danny got up after a moment's consideration and slowly closed the window's blinds.

"Now," he said, "it's time to learn how to be human."


	7. Human Endeavors

Well, at least it was passing.

Danny scowled at his returned physics exam, which sported a giant red C and a number grade of 71 next to it. Usually he would be ecstatic that he was even passing the course, with physics being a bit more detailed and complicated than most of his other subjects; a C told him that he knew, but he needed to know more.

But how could he know more when it was so rare for him to sit down for the exam in the first place?

Sam seemed to sense something off about his reaction, for she kept reassuring him that it was still passing and that he could get tutoring if he wanted to boost his grade, but he said nothing much about it, only folding it into a paper airplane and sending it flying across her room. In his distracted state, he had accidentally turned it tangible, so that it phased through the wall and hit something with a soft thud.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, Grandma!" Sam called. She glanced at Danny charily. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

Sam moved toward him, folding her arms across her chest. "You sometimes forget to control your powers when you're thinking about something, so spill."

"Nothing's _wrong_ , it's just…"

He thought about his endeavors for college versus the ghosts he kept having to fight and the ghosts he kept protecting. Things like this tended to happen often, with the portal being so erratic. What if school was too much for Danny Phantom, in the end? What if school was too much overall, and his dreams of being an astronaut full-time were just dreams that the human part of him couldn't accomplish, with so much of his other side being such a part of him and part of his world?

"What if I can't do it?" he asked at length.

Sam rolled her eyes. "It's just a test. Don't worry about it too much. You're still passing the class."

"No, I know that, but… It's not so much about passing my classes this time." Danny reverted his gaze to the wall that the paper airplane disappeared through. "What if I can't get into college? Or even be anything close to an astronaut?"

Sam hesitated. "Where's this coming from?"

"I don't know… I mean, I've barely had time to focus on school with the portal acting up. Then - Then I pretend that I'll be able to focus on college when I don't even know if I'm going there in the first place. I don't even know if I'm gonna graduate _high school._ "

"Of course you are. You're not far behind, Danny. The teachers have been pretty accommodating with the whole ghost hunting thing."

Danny shrugged. "Guess so."

Sam sat down on the bed beside him. "Listen, Danny. I know you have a lot to figure out right now, so I don't think you need to worry about school too much. I mean, you never really have before."

"Well, before, it wasn't crunch time," said Danny, smiling weakly.

"Whatever. You still don't have to worry." Sam shrugged. "School is basically just an assessment of how much information you can memorize."

Ever the recipient of Sam's occasional rebellious rants, Danny murmured, "I know, you're always talking about education reform—"

"That's not it. I mean, it is, but not in this case," said Sam. "No grade, no diploma is going to represent who you are and what you've accomplished. And you've accomplished so much already, and I know you'll accomplish even more. On your own terms."

Danny smiled, but it didn't quell his doubts entirely. "Most of what I've accomplished was because of my ghost powers, Sam."

"But it's also what you did with them—you as a person, with a _brain_ , who just _happens_ to have those powers. You made decisions that changed things and helped people. You thought fast and acted fast. And you still do. You always do."

Danny, who had been fiddling with a pencil while they talked, accidentally dropped it. It rolled onto the floor under the bed.

Sam put her hand on his, and he silently admired the class ring she was still wearing. "I hate admitting this, but your Mom's right. It doesn't matter if graduation's around the corner. You have plenty of options and plenty of time to make decisions… and I know you have the potential to accomplish whatever you put your mind to. Whether it's life or death, or just… passing Mr. Lancer's class."

(Danny was "fortunate" enough to have Mr. Lancer as his 12th grade literature teacher, too.)

"Either way, I know you'll make all the right decisions in the end, whether you happen to go to college or just fall back on ghost hunting," she continued. "Sometimes the right decisions might not be what you expect until it's all you can see."

Danny looked down at his free hand, newly invisible after retrieving the pencil through the bed rather than going under it. He couldn't help staring at it, realizing how commonplace his ghost powers had become after so many years, how they were such a part of him that functioning without them didn't sound plausible anymore. If Danny Fenton was going to be an astronaut or a part of Fenton Works or even just settle with graduating from high school, then so was Danny Phantom. There was never and would never again be one without the other.

He just wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not.

He finally made his hand return to normal. "Things never turn out like you expect, do they?" he mused, glancing back at Sam.

"Never," she agreed.

They leaned in for a kiss, and they lingered there for quite a while in their solitude. It was only when a familiar voice said, "Gross, googly eyes again," that they broke apart and looked at the door.

In came Tucker and the ex-ghost, both with carry-out Nasty Burger drinks in hand.

"Your Grandma let us in. I think this is yours?" Tucker held out his other hand, which clutched Danny's discarded exam. "Tough break, man."

"Thanks," said Danny grudgingly when Tucker tossed it to him.

"Did you go on a date without us?" Sam asked. "How rude."

Tucker made his specialized "pssh" noise as he moseyed over to Sam's desk chair. "Lunch break, man. Anyway, who takes someone out on a date to the Nasty Burger?"

"It's, like, the only restaurant in town, so… basically everyone," said Sam.

"I kind of like it, actually," said the girl fondly, slurping her drink until it made a noise. She then peered inside as if surprised it was nearly empty. "Fast food is so fast."

"It'll go right through you!"

"Don't need to hear that, Tucker," said Sam. "What else have you been up to?"

Tucker propped his feet onto the desk, and Sam kicked them off. "Just learning how to be human, as you do."

When they weren't busy with human endeavors of their own, the three had spent the past week or so attempting to teach their new ghost friend the human way to do things. She was still very much getting the hang of it, to the point where she still ran into walls and doors expecting to phase through them. She also kept forgetting that she could no longer fly, leaving her jumping into mid-air and then collapsing unceremoniously to the ground, much to the laughter of passersby. She had to constantly be reminded to eat, drink, and sleep in order to survive, something that she didn't like so much – except for the sleeping part.

"It's a lot nicer than sleeping back in the Ghost Zone," she said at one point. "Of course, that kind of sleep was, well, involuntary, but…"

(They decided not to talk about her experiences in the Ghost Zone anymore.)

It was also getting increasingly hard to refer to her without a name; Tucker was bent on finding the perfect one after the success of accurately naming Fluffy, leaving them all in nameless limbo while he attempted to figure it out.

"We've been playing video games today," said Tucker presently, nodding over to the girl.

She jumped with her eyes wide, as if just remembering something, and she pulled his old PDA out of her pocket, showing to them as though she had just found an ancient relic. "He lent this to me so I could beat Level 2 of _Super Glitch_."

"She's horrible at it," Tucker said under his breath to Sam and Danny, who exchanged glances. "Isn't it great?"

Before anything further could be said, there was a soft buzzing sound coming from Danny's backpack, which lay on Sam's bed. Danny leaned over to grab it, looking to see who it was.

"It's Jazz," he said to the others. He answered it and rested it on the head of the bed so that everyone else was in sight. "Hey."

"Danny! I've been researching about your friend and I just—Oh, hi!" His sister Jazz leaned toward the camera, her eyes wide. "Is that her?"

The girl jolted out of her seat, crawling over to the phone. "I, um, _HEL-LO_."

"You can talk normally," said Danny. "She can hear you."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's great to finally meet you! What's… What's your name, by the way?"

"Um." The girl blinked, scanning around the room for something to give her a hint. Her eyes landed on Sam's notebook, which was upside down and had her name scrawled in pen at the top. She looked back at Jazz. "Mas."

Sam eyed her, and in return the girl offered a timid glance.

"Sorry, I don't have a great connection here. Did you say Max?" Jazz said, leaning even closer to the screen as if she couldn't quite hear.

"…Yes."

"Let's go with that," said Tucker, blinking.

"Well, Max… I've been trying to research about your dilemma but the only solutions I'm coming up with involve close proximity to the ghost portal when it's turned on. I guess it makes sense… People can become ghosts, but it seems rare that ghosts become human."

"I'm one of a kind," Max grumbled.

"And only two half-ghosts in existence. Well, one in existence now, actually." Jazz paused, a half-grimace sneaking onto her face at the thought. "We've hit big strides in advancing out knowledge of ghost biology, but it's not nearly to the point where we can create a new ghost altogether. Mom and Dad have been attempting to just get a little for their stupid ghost gun thing, but that's not nearly the same as turning a person into a ghost. We would have to see that in action, and I don't think you want to go through that again."

"Portal's still being worked on anyway, so it wouldn't do much… except maybe kill her," Danny said.

"Yeah, unless you want to get shot in the face with the Fenton Bazooka," said Tucker to Max.

"The what?"

"Or… Danny could find a way to do something with his own ghost DNA," Tucker added, gesturing vaguely over to him.

"Yeah, I have proof from Clockwork that says otherwise," said Danny. "Remember the last time two types of ghost DNA fused together?"

"So, what," said Sam continued, "there's nothing we can do?"

"For the time being. I'll try to figure it out some more… It's sort of helping me with my thesis anyway." Jazz hesitated, frowning as she thought of something. Then her eyes lit up. "You know, there might be some information at Vlad's lab about replicating ghost DNA. He's tried it before."

"Vlad's experiments didn't exactly work out very well," said Danny coolly. Then he thought of his last visit to Vlad's lab, and an image of Danielle regaining her powers popped in his head. "Unless…"

The call ended soon enough, leaving Danny to hurry back home and grab something that he remembered could potentially help. His parents were in the lab already, working on the portal while it was inactive for a short time.

Jack turned around and jumped just as Danny appeared after his descent through the lab's roof. "Gah!"

"You look like you've seen a ghost," said Danny casually as he returned to normal and meandered over to one of the cabinets of discarded experiments.

"When's the last time you used that one, sweetie?" Maddie chuckled.

Danny reached into one of the cabinets, taking out a familiar syringe, which still had some of the chemical used to "weaken" ghost abilities. Jack watched Danny, lifting up his welding mask.

"You're not hunting ghosts without me, are you?"

"Doing the complete opposite, Dad."

"Then I want no part of it!" Jack flipped his mask back on.

It wasn't long until Danny returned to his friends and presented the syringe, which Jack had created to weaken ghost powers, only to find that it strengthened them instead.

When he showed it to Max, she shuddered. "Needles."

"This is a last resort if we can't find anything else," said Danny. "It only seems to work when there's actual ghost powers, though."

"There has to be some ghost still in her," said Sam. "You kept getting your ghost sense whenever she was around."

"Maybe there's some kind of… ecto-footprint instead?" Danny paused at her blank look. "What? I have the abilities but my parents have the words for them."

"Maybe it would be better to not put your experiment-happy parents into the equation, here," said Sam coolly.

"We might have to." Danny sighed and turned to Max, who looked wholly uncomfortable at the idea of further experimentation. "We could still try this if you want. I mean, it only worked on Dani because she was already part ghost, but… maybe you are, too. Just, like, a miniscule amount."

"And what if I'm not?"

Danny frowned at the syringe, thinking hard on it, before finally settling on an ultimatum. "I guess we should see what Jazz says before we get the chance to find out."

He handed the syringe to Sam for safe keeping, and she put it neatly into her backpack, patting it closed.

And that was that. Tucker returned to helping Max with her video game, while Danny and Sam talked more about college choices.

"Why do you want to go back to being a ghost, anyway?" Tucker asked later on. "You get used to being human, and it's a lot less spooky here on Earth."

"Spooky?"

"The Ghost Zone is spooky. I don't know how you lived there."

"Well, when you're actually a ghost, 'spooky' isn't in your vocabulary." Max sighed, putting down the game. "I don't know… Being a ghost is who I am. That's all I've known. Here, as a human, it's just… unfamiliar. Strange."

"Well, everything in life is strange if you think about it. I mean, look at Danny." (Danny heard his name and eyed them.) "He's a half ghost, half human who's saved the world more than once, and he's still freaking out about grades and college applications and the _future_." He wiggled his fingers.

"You try wanting to be an astronaut with a C in physics!" Danny said, pulling Sam's covers over his head. Sam rolled her eyes, patting him on the head.

"C's get degrees, dude," said Tucker.

"Said the genius." Danny's voice was muffled.

"Danny has his ghost powers to keep him going," said Max when the banter finally lulled. "As a human, it's harder. Human abilities aren't really a match against ghosts."

"Au contraire, Maximillian, if that _is_ in fact your real name." ("It's not," said Max.) "I feel the need to point out that humans are just as capable of fighting ghosts," said Tucker. He pulled out a nifty stun gun that shot at ghosts to temporarily stop their flight. "Exhibit A."

Max blinked. "Is that a pen?"

Danny and Sam laughed.

"Laugh all you want, friends," said Tucker, "but soon I'm gonna trade this in for a bazooka."

"Either way," Max continued, "it would still be pretty hard to take on my captors, with or without ghost powers. But having ghost powers back would definitely help."

"Take on?" Danny lifted the covers from his head. "You mean you want to fight them back?"

"I've run from them long enough," said Max, frowning. "I figure, if I get my powers back, I might as well put them to use. After all of this, I'm not going down without a fight."

The unexpected rebellion surprised Danny, but he didn't blame her for it at all. He didn't exactly expect that she would take this sitting down after enduring whatever those scientists did in the Ghost Zone. Nobody would, no matter how scared they were. Whether she got the chance to fight them or not was another story.

"If it's up to us, Max, you're not going down at all."

After a while of talking, they eventually dispersed, with Max staying with Sam for a "girls' night sleepover," which her parents had been anticipating, stating that their daughter needed some "feminine friends" in her life. ("Tucker's feminine enough," Sam told them. "Have you _seen_ him in a dress?")

Danny decided to walk home instead of flying, deciding that he needed to relax about the latest goings-on, not just in relation to ghosts and non-ghosts but to his potential academic futures. Now, he just had to relax and celebrate the fact that it was the weekend on a beautiful spring day.

Of course, with his mind straying to other things, he casually swung his backpack at his side, causing the thermos to pop out of the unzipped top. It toppled onto the ground, rolling into the street. Danny immediately dropped his belongings onto the sidewalk and ran over to snatch it back, turning intangible so that he passed directly through oncoming cars. He ducked, snatching the thermos back and darting out of the way again.

"Phew." He looked at the thermos, which was only slightly dented after being grazed by a car before he saved it. "Great."

He let out a cool gasp that signaled nearby ghosts, but he couldn't find anything there. He figured that it was his ghost sense acting up again and continued walking, though not without putting the thermos firmly back into his backpack and zipping it up.

He had only just missed the newly-appeared ghost portal that closed up behind him.


	8. Portal

"You know, Danny, graduation isn't far away."

Jazz Fenton had finished her semester of university and was eager to come back home to prepare her little brother for graduation, which was less than a month away. Danny figured she came at the right time, considering that his level of preparation was still hovering around zero.

Still, the talks she started giving him were somewhat stifling; she was acting entirely too much like Mom would when she wasn't thinking about ghosts. And now that Jazz, too, was interested in ghost happenings, the resemblance was becoming particularly uncanny.

" _What_?" Danny dropped his spoon into his cereal, consequently splashing milk onto the table. "I had no idea!"

"Captain Sassy," said Tucker from the corner as he and Max eagerly dueled each other in a video game.

Jazz looked at them both with a scowl, wiping the milk up with a napkin.

"I'm just saying," Jazz continued, sitting opposite her brother, who grumpily scooped some more cereal into his mouth. "Graduation is soon, and you still haven't made a plan."

"Danny has _plenty_ of time," said Sam coolly from her seat beside him. Her feet, heavy in combat boots, were propped onto the table in front of her, which Jazz was eyeing her for. "Even if he doesn't decide anything by graduation. There's no time limit for success."

"There is if he really wants to get into that university by this fall," said Jazz pointedly. "He's the one that was jabbering on about it so that he could become a _big space astronaut_ instead of working for Dad."

"He'll figure it out," said Sam.

"Well, he should figure it out soon."

" _He_ is sitting right here," Danny cut in.

"Sorry, Danny. I just think it's important that you strive to reach the potential that I know you have!" Jazz leaned over to pinch his cheek.

"I… know my potential," Danny muttered. "I just… also know that I have time to figure out what exactly that is. Right now, I don't want my plate to get too full, with all that's been going on."

As if that was code for something, Jazz glanced expectantly back at Max, who looked up as if sensing her stare. She looked between Danny and Jazz with wide eyes.

"You know what I mean," Danny added.

"Have you guys found anything?" Jazz asked, promptly changing the subject.

"About turning her back into a ghost? No." Danny shook his head. "The only thing I can think of that's able to turn a human to even half a ghost is the portal. Nothing else."

"Pass. It could kill her."

"We don't know that."

"It almost killed you! Twice."

"What else can we do, Sam?"

"I mean, would it _really_ hurt her, though? If she's a ghost, she's already… kinda dead, right?" Tucker mused. As if something just came to mind, he quickly looked at Max. "Right?"

The rest looked at her, too, but she merely shrugged, still looking somewhat puzzled at the topic of conversation. "I told you, I don't remember much."

" _You're not dead, right_?" Tucker repeated, a bit more urgently this time.

"If she was able to turn human, she's probably not, Tucker," said Sam.

"What, so you suddenly know the biological workings of dead-ghosts versus ghost-ghosts?"

"It's common _sense_." Sam threw one of Danny's cereal pieces at Tucker, hitting him in the forehead.

"What about that syringe?" Danny asked.

Jazz blinked. "Syringe?"

"The stuff mom and dad had to, uh, shrink ghosts." Danny gestured to Sam, who lithely pulled the syringe out of her front zipper, presenting it to them.

Jazz took it, looking at it warily. "I guess it depends on how much ghost DNA Max still has, if any. That's where lab work comes in." She paused. "I still think Vlad's lab would hold some clues. Or… at the very least, Mom and Dad might be able to help."

"They also might want to dissect her."

"She's a friend, Danny. Besides, they haven't dissected you."

"Only because I'm their son!"

"Who has proven to them that not all ghosts are bad!"

"Either way," said Tucker, "she should stay with us. Just in case."

"Why?" Jazz asked, slightly frustrated.

"Cause. She's fun. And she has cool hair." (There was a sad repeated _boing_ that came from Max's borrowed PDA.) " _And_ she just lost. She's pretty bad at this game."

"She is also sitting right here," said Max, taking a cue from Danny. "But… thanks."

Danny grinned.

"Lots of things to figure out," said Sam, lifting one hand in the air and waving it around casually. "What can you do?"

"Figure them out," said Jazz tersely.

"He will. We all will." Sam finally took her feet off of the table, much to Jazz's relief. "So let's not worry about it."

Danny looked at her in admiration, knowing that all of the subjects they were talking about touched a nerve, either for him or for Max—so Sam, ever the mediator, was there to put it all to an end, even for just the moment, blanketing her sensitive nature beneath a façade of casual impatience.

He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.

Though he was grateful for the intervention, Danny couldn't blame Jazz for her persistence; he knew she just wanted what was best for him. Jazz also didn't like it when things weren't set in stone; now that Danny was out and about with ghost fighting, graduation, and career and adult prospects, he was practically a single blurred section of her own concrete vision of the world—a part just waiting to be erased or else further solidified, depending on his actions rather than his foresight.

Unfortunately for her (and perhaps even for him), Danny tended to lack foresight.

"In other news," he said, clearing his throat, "I got a B on Lancer's project, and I've been bringing up my physics grade, so graduation is a definite future."

"Well, obviously," said Sam. "You bought the cap and gown, like, last month. You were always going to graduate."

"I skip class all the time to fight ghosts," said Danny. "It's been a weird thing for my GPA."

" _Honestly_ , you saved the world," said Sam. "The least they could do is give you a diploma."

"Preach, sister," called Tucker.

"Don't call me that."

"You know, Sam's right." ("Of course I am," Sam cut in.) Jazz patted her brother on the head and got up to get some coffee. "There's… Oh, there's nothing to worry about. You're going to graduate! I never expected that! I—mean…" She hesitated. "Never… expected that might happen so soon."

"Nice save," said Danny.

"No, I mean it. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Jazz."

There was a very lengthy pause.

"Though I wouldn't complain if you applied to major in—"

" _Thanks, Jazz_."

Just as abrupt as Danny's reply, the door burst open, followed by a surprised collective yell of " _Jasmine_!"

"That's our cue to leave," said Sam, waving goodbye to Jazz with a smile while the latter was assaulted by hugs from her parents.

"Wait, we have to unplug!" Tucker yelled, snatching his phone cord from the wall. (Max was strangely silent as she followed.) "Coming, coming!"

"Oh, Jazz, have you met Canadian girl?" boomed Jack's voice as the younger teens passed him by.

"Max? Yes, I have."

"Well, I'll let you in on a secret." Jack leaned closer, his eyes narrowed as he kept his gaze on the front door. "That girl? She's a ghost."

Jazz blinked when he pulled away. "Wow. I… had no idea?"

Maddie heaved a sigh and walked away.

There was further silence from Max as she trailed behind the rest of the friends, who were jabbering on just ahead, getting ready for an unplanned weekend.

After a few moments, Danny noticed her absence and glanced back to see her standing just at the bottom of his house's stoop, staring into space as if in deep thought. As though she could feel his stare, however, she finally looked up and caught his eye.

"Could we really go to that lab?" she asked.

Everyone stopped in place, turning around to look at her; she looked at them all one by one with a hopeful expression.

"The… lab your sister mentioned," she added.

"Vlad's lab?" Danny asked.

Max nodded. "I want to see… if he has anything he can help us with… Help me with, I mean."

"You must not know who _he_ is," said Sam. "Vlad's dead."

"That's how I got to be mayor. I was the next best choice," said Tucker, puffing out his chest. Sam poked it and he seemed to deflate, sulking behind her.

"Dead?" Max blinked.

"Last we saw, he was left alone in space," said Danny before adding sourly, "He got to be an astronaut before I did."

"Weren't you briefly an astronaut a few years ago?" Tucker cut in. "You've been to space."

"It... I… briefly." Danny paused. "Very briefly. I want to be one, like, full time."

"Well, full time killed Uncle Vladdy, so—"

"Anyway," Sam continued. "What would be the plan if we did go to his lab?"

"Find… something?" Max frowned. "Anything?"

Danny couldn't blame her for her eagerness to try anything. Despite her improvements, she was slightly out of tune with the rest. He knew it had to be hard trying to be human, and it showed. Her steps were heavier, clumsier than a normal person; her eyes were wider with curiosity and fear; she kept getting the urge to fly or levitate or do anything that ghosts did when she wasn't a ghost at all, not anymore. She was getting used to being human, certainly, but she was missing a part of herself, a part of who she really was.

And what were they doing but speculating every so often about what or what not to do? Danny had a full lab at his disposal, but it was full of contraptions that typically produced the opposite effect of their intentions… The portal was busted and erratic, and there were no inventions to create ghost DNA, except perhaps for the syringe - but even that only acted on ghost DNA already present. Max was pretty much in limbo when it came to her dilemma.

Except for one haven of possible solutions.

It didn't take too long for them to get to the old mansion wherein Vlad Masters' laboratory laid. It took them longer to get through it than to get there in the first place; no one was at that mansion anymore, as if the area felt like forgetting the person who nearly destroyed them all, to the point where his home was just a worthless trinket to collect dust.

But not everything was left to collect dust. They found the lab eventually, deep in the basement of the mansion. It took a few moments for all the lights to turn on after so long of not being used; then a voice that didn't belong piped up, "Intruder alert, my darling."

They all whirled about to see a hologram version of Maddie Fenton standing in the door frame.

"Ugh." Danny zapped the projection it came from with green light from his hand.

"In _tru_ -der _aler_ …" The Maddie hologram didn't finish its droning words before disappearing.

A brief pause.

"I guess that'll do it," said Tucker.

"I feel sick," said Max suddenly.

"I know, it creeps me out, too," said Danny. He only realized she wasn't on the same brain wave as him when he looked back at her.

She was standing in the middle of the lab, staring at all the contraptions around her, from a giant supercomputer to an examination table to files and files of information. Danny saw one of the tubes in which Vlad's failed creations once floated, but there was nothing in there this time. He was just glad that none of those experiments survived long enough to stay there after Vlad's death. He couldn't imagine being trapped in there for so long.

"You all right?" he asked Max as he walked further in, automatically going ghost out of instinct.

"Yes, I just…" Max turned around to look back at the trio. She hugged herself as if she was cold. "This is just too familiar."

"All labs basically look the same to me," said Sam as she dusted off one of the computers.

"Yes," said Max wearily. "That's the idea, I think."

Before thinking to elaborate, she sucked in a deep human breath and crossed the room to one of the drawers, which housed a few small inventions.

They all split up to search for any information that might help, but they couldn't quite find anything of use. Most of what remained were scraps of old inventions, discarded ideas or information written on notecards, and a randomly-placed cheese hat. It seemed almost like Vlad had taken or destroyed what evidence he could that might be pinned against him in the future—but, unluckily for him, the future wasn't quite as set in stone as he figured it would be.

Also unluckily for them, they were without much more information to go on, except for a brief test they ran on Max to determine how much ghost DNA was in her system. The machine shorted out before they could get any results.

"That's convenient," said Sam bitterly, waving away the resultant smoke.

After much deliberation, they collectively realized that, with the evidence of Vlad's failed experiments to create ghosts from scratch followed by the use of the syringe on ghosts only, there was little room for any other options.

Danny led them to a giant portrait of Vlad sitting regally in a chair with a white cat on his lap; he tossed it aside to reveal the closed portal.

"Fancy," said Max.

"There's only one way to even try to go ghost," said Danny at last, turning to face the rest of them. "It's the only way any halfa that's ever existed came to be."

"She doesn't want to be a halfa, though," Tucker reminded him. "She wants to be a whole-a."

"Either way… It gives ghost powers to those who don't have any." Danny gestured to himself, then gestured to the carelessly thrown portrait, which now lay face down on the floor. "I mean, Vlad got it from ecto-acne, but it was _from_ a portal, so—"

"I'll do it."

"Max, I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Yeah, acne sucks," Tucker muttered.

"No. Well, _yeah_ , but… I'm just saying, I still don't think what Danny or even Vlad went through can be replicated so easily. It could have a different effect on you—especially, maybe, since you were a ghost before—"

"Sam, I know you're trying to help," said Max, turning to look at her. "I know you care, even though you're pretending not to. They tell me you do that sometimes." (Sam eyed the boys, who avoided eye contact.) "But… recently, I've had many decisions made _for_ me, and I would very much like to make this choice myself, regardless of the consequences."

Tucker and Danny simultaneously let out a low whistle, while Sam looked both taken aback and impressed.

"You know what? You're right. I support that." Sam, ever the advocate for freedom of individual choice, stepped aside so that Max could lead herself to the portal. "Just be careful. If things can go wrong, they will."

"Isn't that the Fenton family motto?" Tucker interjected.

"You don't have to be here, you know," said Danny coolly as he maneuvered to the on-switch for the portal. He then hesitated, looking back at Max, who had her back to them now, her shoulders back, her chin held high. "You sure about this?"

"Yes," said Max. "It's better than doing nothing."

"It hurts," said Danny. "Just… thought I'd warn you."

"Thank you." Max sucked in a breath. "For everything."

After a long moment's silence, Danny gained the gumption to use the controls to open the portal doors. It was still turned off inside, but the mechanics of the door opened for her to step right inside the darkness.

Danny couldn't bring himself to turn the portal itself on, remembering being in her position years before, so Sam appeared next to him, shooing him away knowingly before resting her hand on the lever.

"Ready?"

Max nodded.

"All right. Good luck."

She pulled the lever. Lights appeared as if on a runway all around Max until they joined together in the middle, so shocking and bright that it wrenched her violently into the air with its energy, leaving her hovering in the midst of the portal's depths.

Danny only then remembered that the worst pain Max had ever felt was scraped knees when she presently let out a terrible, anguished scream.

Tucker dropped his precious smartphone with a clatter to the floor, running over to the portal with a yell of her name. Sam snatched him back before looking at Danny with wide eyes.

Danny gripped at his hair, trying to drown out the screams with little success as he watched Max suffer in the portal, thinking back to the pain he felt being trapped in the very same light, feeling agony beyond measure as parts of his DNA were ripped and recreated again and again. The world around him was bright, too bright, and there was nothing but pain in the entirety of his body when the process was over, leaving him sunk on the floor for the longest time before he could regain the ability to even so much as speak.

A few moments passed with no results.

The state of the ghost portal wasn't changing; normally at this point, it would have disconnected somehow with the amount of energy that was being used, but it was still going. It was still going…

"This isn't working," said Sam, echoing his thoughts.

She had let go of Tucker, who was now watching the scene with wide eyes as he sat on his knees.

Sam looked at Danny after a few more beats. "We have to _help her_!"

"She—She has to stay in there for a little while longer!" Danny said.

"It's not working, Danny, look!" Sam gestured to the vitals screen, which showed no signs of change except for a very increased heart rate.

The light was so bright that Danny could only barely see Max's body starting to spasm.

Sam looked at him urgently when he was still frozen. "I know you don't want to experience this again, even when it's happening to someone else. I don't either! _Get her OUT_!"

Danny let out a frustrated yell, darting over to the portal controls to shut it off. Perhaps the portal turning him part-ghost was truly a one-time thing that couldn't be replicated, just like they figured before…

What if Danny was a fluke experiment like all the others his parents had unknowingly made?

What if Vlad's portal was _different_?

"Oh my god, _we're killing her_!" he shouted, his voice cracking desperately as he set everything in motion to turn the portal off.

Just as he was about to pull down the handle to shut the portal down, however, there was a sudden blast of light that sent them flying backwards with its force.

Danny landed on the ground with a thud, only to scramble quickly back to his feet when the whirring noises of the portal at work began to fade. Max's shadowed figure lay limply on the tiled floor while the lights behind her started dimming as well. The chaos slowed until it came to a standstill, and the portal shut off, preventing itself from overloading like Jack's portal had.

Well, it seemed that Vlad had done one thing right, at least.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker ran over to Max, who was unmoving. Sam crouched down beside her, listening to her chest in a panic. After a few beats, she heaved a sigh of relief.

"She's still breathing," she said. "Just knocked out."

Knocked out was a loose term; after closer inspection, Max was still, but not very still, for her body was still shaking automatically, as if a shock was still going through her, though Danny knew that couldn't be the case. What if the pain was still somehow going?

"Wake up!" Tucker bellowed, cupping his hands over his mouth. " _Wake—up_!"

"Relax, Tucker… Danny was like this that one time, too. Give it time."

Sam was right; only a few minutes passed before Max began to stir, sucking in some breaths as if from leftover panic. Her eyes were wide when she scanned the laboratory around her, and she started to thrash in her fear, perhaps feeling thrown back to her old days of experimentation in the Ghost Zone.

Danny held out his hands to calm her. "Hey, it's okay, it's just us. It's us, Max."

Max's lips formed the name in a sense of familiarity. She then stared at him, breathing heavily through her nose, which he took as a bad sign regarding her state as a human versus a typically non-breathing ghost. Still, he had to ask.

"How do you… feel?"

It took Max a few moments to be able to speak, but she finally managed, sounding somewhat choked. "I… don't know."

She slowly and shakily sat up, looking back at the portal, perhaps finally remembering where she was and what they were doing. She felt of her heart, of her face; she looked at her hands and at the reflection in the shine of the wall beside her.

"How do you feel, Max?" Tucker repeated.

The hope faded from Max's eyes, and as she looked away, she tried to hide a stray tear that escaped onto her cheek.

"Human," she managed.


	9. Resilient

Max hadn't talked much since failing to bring back her ghost self via the portal. At first, it was mostly because she needed to recover, just as Danny had when he was first "shocked" in the portal; she rested at Sam's place for the next few days, mostly sleeping it off under a pile of blankets, though she had trouble with even the most human ability of sleep the first few nights.

Her silence, even after recovery, demonstrated an air of forgetfulness or denial, as if the situation had never even happened, though in the odd times that she slept over at Danny's in secret, he noticed her perusing theories of ghost biology that Jazz had sent them in hopes of helping, using Tucker's ghost hunting pen as a flashlight. She seemed to be getting desperate.

At one point, Danny recognized this, leading him to finally ask his dad to test the syringe, not explaining any further about Max under the guise that it was just "out of curiosity." It turned out, then, that the syringe was basically useless when it came to creating a new ghost altogether.

(Jack was equally disappointed by this news, perhaps for different reasons.)

The others didn't talk about the whole un-ghost situation either, as they found themselves running out of options and facing the prospect that perhaps Max's ghost self was gone forever.

But the main reason they didn't talk about it was because they had other things to worry about.

Graduation was coming soon, just as Jazz was quick to remind them before. There was a new influx of tests and book reports and college applications, all of which Danny decisively (and with an implied alternative of butt-kicking from Sam) took care of the first chance he could, leaving little room for his not-so-useful skills in procrastination. He figured that it wouldn't hurt to apply for some universities in the end, whether he decided to go or not; fifth grade space camp, after all, was just a blip in the radar when it came to eventually qualifying as an astronaut – or, really, anything else.

About a week after the ghost portal fiasco, the school day for Danny and his friends was just about as eventful as it could be on a normal day, with the energy only slightly heightened by the buzz of seniors getting ready to continue their last few weeks at school. Senioritis was getting too be too much to handle as a result for many of the students there—including Danny, who would rather be fighting ghosts than facing another test.

"It's like all the teachers gather together to decide what date is the most inconvenient for us to turn in our final grades," Tucker said.

"Is that not what they do?" Danny blinked.

"Valerie incoming," said Sam, closing her locker. She irritably tossed away a banner that said CONGRATS CLASS OF 2015 across the closed locker door; it was the third one she had torn off that week. "Also my impatience."

"Hey, losers," said Valerie jokingly as she arrived, books in her arms. "Ready for physics?"

"As I'll ever be," said Danny.

"That's the spirit. Kinda." Valerie linked her free arm with his. "Come on. Let's ace this test, Ghost Boy."

Valerie and Danny had spent a while being tutored by Sam and Tucker, who were more proficient with test-taking than the decidedly busy ghost hunters had the chance to be. Sam was more book smart and knew how to study the material better than Tucker, who just sort of knew everything but couldn't quite explain it. Danny was glad to have someone to commiserate with when physics wasn't connecting—especially when knowing that Valerie was particularly excellent in the subject thanks to her father's background. Danny wasn't too bad at it, either, he supposed; it was just getting the time to concentrate on it fully that left him floundering.

He entered the test room ready and exited the room exhausted but triumphant, not even caring now what grade he got, only caring that he managed to finish it without ghosts getting involved.

Well, for the most part.

That afternoon, the ghost portal went berserk again, and he had little time to focus on other things. Every time, he started off with a panic, thinking it was Fluffy or the scientists again, but they were mostly nameless ghosts that had gotten lost; they didn't put up much of a fight, especially by the time Danny lobbed them back into the Ghost Zone again.

Later in the day, when school was over, ghosts were gone, and everyone went home, Danny felt like flying might take his mind off of everything surrounding him, so he traveled the city in full Phantom mode, letting the wind take him. He eventually stopped at the hill above town, where he could see the statue of the younger version of him holding up the world.

He stared at it for a long time, memories and thoughts flooding through him at the sight.

But then his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a strange slurping noise just beside him that made him jump, looking over to the source.

The quiet presence of Max was standing beside him, sipping the last of her Nasty Burger drink, which she tended to gravitate to religiously after discovering that there was more than just water to quench her human thirst. She continued sipping noisily until she seemed to feel Danny's stare. Slowly, she stopped, staring back at him, until she finally just put the empty cup down entirely.

"Did I ruin a moment?"

"A little," Danny admitted.

"Sorry."

Max sat down beside him, darting her gaze around in curiosity, not that Danny could blame her; the view from this hill was great for those non-flying human moments of resting beneath a tree to look at the Amity Park.

There was a long silence as they stared at the sleepy town below them.

Only a few minutes later did Danny realize that Max was hovering her hand over her discarded cup, which lay unceremoniously against the tree's bark. She let out a huff at one point, retrieving her hand.

"I used to be able to levitate things," she said quietly. "Whatever those people did to me… Everything's gone. I thought that… maybe I could get some part of my ghost self back, but… It's all gone."

It reminded him of the portal, and he inched closer, noticing a bruise on her cheek from when she fell in the lab. "How do you feel?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light.

"I'm fine."

She was now staring into space, her hand still hovering somewhat in front of her, as if by instinct.

There were a few beats of silence as Danny let her stay in her own world—until curiosity eventually won over.

"Max," he said, finally getting her attention. "Do you remember… anything about those scientists? What they did to you?"

"Why do you ask?" she said blankly.

"I don't know… Maybe it could help us figure out how to get you back."

"I, um, I told you. I don't remember much." She slowly shook her head. "I just… remember being taken away one day. I don't even remember where from… just that I was taken. Then I woke up in a laboratory." She looked down at her hands, no longer tinted with blue except for the veins that ran close to the skin. "It's similar to your parents' lab, but it was a much more—hostile environment. The scientists are, I think, a couple working together. Fluffy—the wolf—is their guard. Also a good tracker."

"Yeah, you mentioned that," said Danny sourly, looking at his hands, too; they were still scratched up from Fluffy's locker attack, though the injuries were much more faded than before.

"That's all I really remember about it. They never told me anything or explained anything. They just carried on, and I… I stayed there." She made a humorless smile. "Until I became an impossibility."

"You think they were trying to do that? To... make you human?"

"I don't see why they would."

"To test the limits? Scientists do that kind of stuff... to make new discoveries and all that."

"Like when they turned you into a ghost?"

"Huh? No, they didn't do that... I did." Danny hesitated. "Well, technically the portal did."

"Oh."

A pause.

"So you don't know how you got there or why they did this to you. Do you remember anything aside from where you were and escaping from it?"

"Not really. They usually kept me asleep or sedated." She squinted her eyes. "All I remember was that everything was dark except for their—inventions and monitors. And that… at one point, I was somehow able to phase through their operating table. And that I heard them yelling in panic when I got out." Her lips twitched with a smile. "I guess you can only discover so much before it backfires."

Danny wasn't smiling. He couldn't imagine enduring that with the added bonus of not even knowing why she was there. "I'm sorry."

Max didn't say anything for a few moments, perhaps drifting off again, before she muttered, "It's nothing. I'm free now." She hesitated. "Mostly."

Danny thought back about her describing the lab somewhat like his parents', and he sighed. "Scientist couples, man."

Max jarred herself out of her stupor and tilted her head toward him. "Your parents are much nicer, though."

"Yeah… Though after years of them telling me that they wanted to rip ghost me apart, I'm just glad they didn't try to do anything like—the other scientists." He tried not to elaborate, knowing it seemed to be a sensitive topic, but Max nodded imploringly. "Especially after they found out it was me. I mean, they had such a—such a wealth of ghost knowledge right in front of them. They could easily experiment on me, but they didn't. They don't."

"They will ask you for even just a spit swab," said Max, remembering what Sam had said before. "Gross, by the way."

Danny shrugged. "It's… weird. I'm glad, of course, that they accept me, but it's still weird."

"I don't see a reason why they wouldn't accept you," said Max. "I think their love for you is stronger than any 'wealth of knowledge' they might have, because if they're dedicating their lives to researching ghosts, I'm sure they wouldn't want their efforts to be wasted anyway." She smiled again. "They must be very proud of their ghost son that saved the Earth."

She gazed at the statue of Danny holding Earth in his hand for a long time, deep in thought about something, before she looked back at him with an air of curiosity.

"What happened, by the way?"

"Huh?"

"I… I know you saved the Earth, but—"

"I had help," he said, referencing his most-often used rebuttal whenever people said that. He didn't like taking all the credit when so many others had been there to work together, humans and ghosts alike. Then he realized her question and blinked in confusion. "You… don't know?"

Her eyes were wide as she shook her head.

"Right." Danny frowned. Whether her memory was shot or not, she probably wouldn't have known anyway, if she had been out of touch with the rest of the Ghost Zone for so long. He wondered how long she was under the custody of those scientists.

So he told her. He told her the story of the incoming asteroid and how the world was brought together to destroy it. He mentioned his ghost enemies and his human friends and each side in both of him that managed to tie them all together to do the impossible.

"Sounds like that still happens," said Max quietly when he finished the story.

"What do you mean?"

"Using your ghost and human sides to tie the world together. Even just existing, you still do that." She put her hand over her chest, where a heart was that wasn't there before. "Then you even help a ghost. One of the things you fight against."

"I just try to get them back home," said Danny. "I'll only fight them if they're a threat."

"Still. You helped me anyway."

"I'm helping you because I know how it feels to not feel right in your own body," said Danny intently before adding lightly, "Plus, you probably would've died trying to be human by yourself."

"It's not _that_ hard," said Max defiantly. When Danny raised a brow, she sighed. "Okay, it is. But… I'm getting used to it. I think. I guess I have to."

"It takes a while. I know it's hard. It's hard learning to be a ghost when you aren't one, too. You feel lighter. Weirder." Danny had to shake away the memories of his first encounter with ghost powers. "Then when you do get used to it, you have to figure out how to—"

"Balance it?"

"Balance it," he echoed. "I learned that, too, but—I've been wondering lately how I can keep doing that if I want to be successful."

"It sounds to me like you already are."

When Danny didn't respond, Max tilted her head inquisitively and hugged her knees, which were endlessly scratched and bruised after falling so much thanks to the heaviness of humanism. "Anyway… I can understand you wondering about balancing all of that, though. I mean… Being human is hard enough. And I can only imagine it's harder when you're trying to balance what you want and what you have. But what you _have_ are ghost powers that you've used for good and continue to use for good."

"And what about what I want as a human?"

"Well... I don't know. What _do_ you want?"

"I... I don't know." Danny put his head in his hands. "I think I just want to give my human side a chance, too."

"Human side." Max sounded curious.

Danny always thought it hard to explain. "I mean, not human side, but... human life. A chance to make my own future that doesn't really depend on ghosts."

"What do you see yourself doing in the future?"

"I don't know." Danny finally lifted his head to look at her, frowning. "I've always wanted to go to space. I've always wanted to make a good life as a human being, not just someone who happens to have ghost powers. But..."

He became quiet, so Max prodded him. "But?"

"But I can't see myself doing anything else." Danny glanced back at her. "Being half ghost... I've only been that way for a few years, but now it's all that I know. I can't imagine my life without being Danny Phantom."

"Sounds like you answered your own question, then. Sort of."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, who says you can't have a nice human life with your ghost powers in the mix?"

"No one. I guess."

Max was quiet for a long time, considering his words, until she finally spoke, her voice lilting as if she was talking more to herself than to him. "One time, I asked Sam what you were." When Danny only blinked, she leaned back against the tree and continued. "I asked about your human side and your ghost side and how they intersected. She told me that, to her, you didn't really have a side, or two sides. You're not one or the other. You're both and neither. You're just... Danny."

Just Danny.

His powers were such an innate part of him now that it was easy, familiar even, to talk about his ghost part versus his human part - never quite both as a singularity. But he figured Sam was right (as she often was); for him, there wasn't any quality that was more human or ghost than the other. He was both and neither, a potent mixture of teenager and otherworldly creature rather than a clear part. Just Danny, who used those powers for good. Or at least as good as it seemed at the right moment.

He supposed he always believed that without saying, but it was strange to hear so casually after what felt like years of trying to figure himself out.

So perhaps it wasn't a matter of balancing two lives when, in actuality, it was always only one life that was woven between the ghost world and the human world—one life with many different, complex aspects. It seemed that the complexities of ghost hunting were just an added bonus to the life he would live normally. Now the daunting part of his life was what might happen after leaving the safe haven of Amity Park…

He figured he would just have to learn through life all over again.

"I don't know," said Max, interrupting his thoughts. "That just tells me that you don't have to pick one side or the other to... what is it? Go to space. Or fight bad ghosts. But I'm not good with all of this stuff that you have to go through. I just know that I've seen you in action, and I've seen the effect you've had on others, and… I know what you can do. I feel safe with you here. Especially now that you and your friends are helping me."

"I think it's safe to call them your friends now."

"Is it? I don't know how friendships work on this plane."

"Just like ghost ones, I think."

"Oh. Then I guess you're my friends now."

Danny couldn't help his next question. "Including Tucker?"

She seemed confused by the question, staring at him for a few beats. "Well, yes. He is funny. I think so, anyway." Something glazed over in her eyes, until she looked suddenly puzzled again, touching her cheek, which was newly flushed pink.

"That means you're blushing," said Danny with a knowing smile.

Max dropped her hand to the grass. "Is blushing good or bad?"

"Depends on how you look at it, I guess."

When Max said nothing further, frowning to herself and staring into space. "Humans are weird."

"I know."

"Weird, but in a good way." Max paused, thinking hard about something, her brow furrowed. "You humans are stronger than I imagined you would be."

"What d'you mean?"

"I don't know. I guess just from what I've seen lately... Humans fight to survive every day, from the smallest things to... well, the largest." She gestured to the statue of Danny. "And even when you're knocked down, you manage to get back up again, and you thrive, over and over again… and you go on." She then gestured to his healing hands. "It comes with its faults, of course, and I'd still rather be myself as a ghost more than anything else, but... I can still see that… well, to be human is to be resilient."

"So philosophical." Danny smirked. "And here I am freaking out about graduation."

"Well, I did already say you humans were weird," said Max lightly.

But there was a certain resilience to everything, Danny figured; from the giant things to the things that might seem insignificant to a ghost who knew nothing else, especially a ghost whose vision of the future was much more set in stone.

They had avoided the apocalypse, and Danny was in the final stretch of high school (arguably close to the level of victory involved). Now there was so much more to discover and endure. The thought of such an uncertain future didn't feel like an asteroid apocalypse might, but Danny couldn't help but admit that it was scary. Before, he had doubts, but now he just had morbid curiosity; what did this uncertain future hold for him, in this world of humans turned ghosts and ghosts turned human and ghosts attacking humans? Aside from the stray portal ghosts, was there a chance that ghosts attacking humans might still happen?

Danny figured there was. After all, it was still happening now, and it probably would have happened before, had the portal been open sooner. There were always ghosts and there would always be ghosts, some good and some bad—and one of them was Danny himself. Who better to know the workings of both worlds than the one who knew them equally?

Well, he didn't quite know either one equally. He supposed he still had a lot to learn.

The future was uncertain, but at least he knew one thing: No matter what path he decided or how he might go about going down that path with ghost powers in tow, Danny was here to stay, ghost and human all in one—a force to be reckoned with, whether in a human lifestyle or in the ghost-hunting Fenton way.

And somehow, just knowing that made every uncertain future suddenly seem okay.

Until suddenly things weren't okay again.

They heard an unbecoming roar in the distance that made them both jump. After a moment of comprehension, both of them got to their feet, staring up at the source of the sound, only to see a giant ghostly figure creeping across rooftops nearby.

"They sent Fluffy," Max breathed.

"What—" Danny fumbled for his thermos, unable to hide his shock. " _How'd you get out_?"

Max could only stare, looking far more panicked than Danny could ever manage.

"Time to play hide and seek," said Danny at length, decisively forgetting about how the ghost got out in favor of escaping it. He put away his thermos and reached out for her hand. "Come on!"

Max took his hand, and together they took off into the waiting town below, trying to escape the echoes of an eerie howl when the wolf finally caught sight of her prey.

Running was futile, so they flew through the town, nearly knocking into passersby—until, of course, the passersby were quick to hide after seeing the ghost wolf on the horizon. Fluffy was gaining on them, striding effortlessly across the rooftops of the city's buildings with ease.

"Do you have something?" Max asked suddenly, trying to catch her breath as they stopped and hid in an alleyway. When Danny only blinked, she reached out her hand, imitating grabbing something, though it didn't help until she finally let out a gasp of, "Weapon!"

"You still have his pen?"

"Yes, but—" Max sucked in a breath, fumbling for the weapon that she got out of her pocket. "I mean—bazooka?"

" _Just use the pen_!"

Danny ducked out from the alley and shot a blast of green light toward the wolf just as it was jumping across another building. The wolf stumbled as a result, clawing at the nearest building as it fell into the road. While Danny charged after it, he was surprised to see Max darting through the alleyway and out to the road toward the creature. She gritted her teeth, skidding to a halt before the fallen wolf and letting out a blast of ecto-energy that shot it straight in the eyeball.

Fluffy roared in pain before getting back to its feet, now towering over Max, who remained unaffected, shooting the energy at it relentlessly.

Danny decided to use this as a distraction and appeared behind the wolf.

"Head's up!"

He whacked the wolf with a blast of his own energy, sending it plunging back to the ground.

"That's for scratching up my hands," Danny yelled. "Now, leave us alone!"

The wolf lifted its head and cocked it toward Max, who was now staring at the pen as it seemed to spew only smoke from its tip. She looked at it with wide eyes before the wolf let out a roar that sent her flying, landing among a group of trashcans by someone's stoop.

Before the wolf could move, Danny got out another Fenton invention and lassoed it around the wolf's head, jerking it back so he could look it in the eye. "Is this the girl you're talking about?"

The wolf tore through the Fenton floss like it was nothing and snarled at him, looking from him to Max, who had already gotten back to her feet, pointing the faulty pen at the ghost as if maybe hoping to stab at it instead.

"Vi havas la knabino," Fluffy growled, looking back at Danny.

"I don't have the girl," said Danny (now quite glad that he took the time to learn some Esperanto courtesy of Wulf). "She has herself, and she _doesn't want to be found_."

Just as Danny said this, he found that Max had abandoned the pen altogether in favor of something a little larger; she whacked at Fluffy with the thrown lid of the garbage can, causing a resounding echo on contact.

It didn't affect Fluffy much, but it was enough for Danny to act; he used the distraction to blast the wolf back with his energy, sending it flying onto a nearby rooftop.

Instead of fighting back, though, Fluffy did something unthinkable.

The moment she landed, she got to her feet, staring at Danny and Max as if thinking especially hard about something…

And then she ran away.

The two were silent for a long time as they watched her go, eventually disappearing into a ghost portal of her own creation. Max dropped the lid to the ground, backing away.

"Did… we scare her off?" she breathed.

"Don't know." Danny transformed back into his human side just before landing on the ground. "She seems to like running away."

"Doesn't make sense," said Max, shaking her head. "With how much they're trying to get me back, it doesn't make sense that she would just drop everything and leave."

Danny didn't speak, looking back at her. Something strange came to her face, something very unreadable, especially as she noticed frightened citizens emerging from their hiding spots and staring at them. Her eyes then scanned the damage to the buildings that the wolf had done.

"I'm sorry they keep… fighting you to get to me." Max hung her head a little. "If I just turned myself in, all this madness in your town would stop."

"Madness never stops in Amity Park," said Danny. "I think everyone's basically used to it."

Max didn't think it funny, frowning to herself as she gestured vaguely toward the sky, where the ghost portal had since disappeared. "You think _they'll_ ever stop?"

"I, um… I don't know." Danny paused, noticing her unusual expression. "You all right?"

Max wasn't moving now, only grasping tightly at the pen with a shaking hand. She stared at the sky, her eyes wide and not entirely focused, as though she was thinking hard about something. Then she closed her eyes, sucked in one of those human breaths, and turned to look back at him with a new sort of confidence.

"I'm fine," she said a little too casually, turning to walk back through town. "Let's just get out of here."

"You really need to work on the whole emotions thing." Danny took her wrist, causing her to turn back around to look at him, not hiding her worried expression anymore. "Max, we aren't gonna let them get you. I promise."

"I know." Max gently tugged her arm away. "You aren't."


	10. Graduation

"Smile!"

 _Flash_.

Graduation day had arrived, and the parents were taking full advantage of it. Danny, in full graduation garb, was standing just outside his door with his arm around Sam while both of their parents assaulted them with an impromptu photography session.

"Danny, move a little to the left. Oh no, I meant my left. Perfect!"

Flash.

"Can I get in on this?" Jack didn't even wait for an answer; he scrambled up the front steps, accidentally elbowing both teens in the back as he tried to squeeze into frame. The tiny neck tie he wore was drowned out by the blatant orange of his jumpsuit.

"Your sister should be in the picture, too," said Maddie, checking the battery on the camera. "You were in hers, after all—Jazz?"

"Coming, coming." Jazz stood beside Danny with a sigh.

"Looks like Mom's in mom mode again, huh," he muttered.

"It's not every day that my youngest baby graduates high school," Maddie said, returning to her camera. After a few beats, she hesitated with a look of confusion, then glanced up at her newly invisible son. "Wh—Oh, Danny, stop that!"

He had gone intangible through the last couple of photos she took. Mrs. Manson jumped in place, startled at the sudden disappearance, before letting out a huff of realization. Sam, on the other hand, smirked, bumping into his side.

"Sorry," he said, returning to visibility. "We can take pictures after the ceremony, Mom. We're gonna be late."

"All right, all right. Wait a minute—" Another picture of Danny and his sister. "Okay, let's roll!"

The trip was a short one, but for Danny it felt like eons. Maybe it was just the fact that his entire career as a student had felt eons long. Or maybe it was the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Manson uncomfortably carpooling with them in the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle.

"Where's Tucker, anyway? I thought he was coming with us," said Danny, trying to keep the mood light despite his own nervousness that even he didn't expect.

"Said something about 'mayor duties,'" said Sam coolly, making air quotes with her fingers. "Have you heard from Max?"

"No. I kinda got the feeling that she didn't want to intrude."

"BUMP!" Jack yelled.

Danny and Sam routinely grabbed hold of the nearby handles, keeping themselves steady when Jack ran over a giant pothole. Sam's parents weren't nearly as well-prepared.

"Remind me why we didn't take our car instead?" Mr. Manson asked through his teeth as he picked himself up from the grated floor.

"Carpooling," said Sam. "It helps the environment."

"Darling, nothing about this vehicle is helping the environment," said Mrs. Manson. Jack took a sharp curve and caused her to fall back over with a gasp.

In time, they finally arrived to their destination, with the teenagers and the Fentons relatively intact while the Mansons were a little worse for wear. Jack rolled down the window while the teens got out of the RV.

"If you need us, we'll be on the field in those fancy chairs they set out for us. Orange jumpsuit, can't miss it."

"We're so proud of you, Danny! You too, Sam!" Maddie waved at them from behind Jack's wide frame.

While Sam's parents said a few parting words to her, Danny looked around, finding the scene a strange one. He had seen it before when his sister graduated, but it felt so much stranger seeing his fellow students in graduation caps and gowns. It wasn't much of a ceremony when it came down to it; their names got called, they shook hands, and they left without even a real diploma in their hands. But just the thought that he was here, that they all were here despite everything, despite years of overcoming the odds…

It all of a sudden felt very, very real.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," said Danny. "Just thinking. It feels like just yesterday I was a freshman complaining about ghosts and physics."

"Don't get too sentimental. You still do that," said Sam with a smile.

" _Hey_ Fen _-toni Maroni_! Heads up!"

It wasn't much of a warning when the very next second, a football beaned Danny in the side of the head. "Ow!"

"I _said_ heads up, dweeb." Dash, clad in his graduation cap and gown, raised his hands in hopes that he would throw the ball back.

Danny tried to gather himself enough to throw it back, slightly nervous at the idea for reasons he couldn't articulate. When he shot the football over, it went a surprising distance that made him reconsider going into sports instead of science—until the football, newly intangible, passed directly through Dash's chest. It reappeared suddenly when it dropped at Kwan's feet just a few paces behind him.

"Oh, uh, sorry."

Dash and Kwan were laughing their heads off, as they often did when he accidentally used his powers. He always wondered why it was so amusing until he remembered that they just weren't used to it like he was.

" _Ghost nerd_." The next thing Danny knew, Dash had put him in a headlock. "Who's my favorite ghost nerd?"

Danny sighed. "I am."

Dash had (thankfully) gotten over his phase of bullying people by the time senior year hit, but he still retained some of the tactics, which he tended to use more for aggressive affection than anything else. Danny was just glad he didn't go for a head noogie this time.

"Hah. Never gets old." Dash caught the ball from Kwan and proceeded to thump Danny in the temple with it. "Stop floating around and come on, bro."

Floating. More ghost jokes.

They watched the jocks walk away toward the field, tossing the football back and forth between them.

"Is the football graduating, too?" asked Danny coolly.

"So Dash really is graduating?" Sam asked, slightly impressed.

"Yeah, he's going to college on a football scholarship… I don't think he intends to graduate from that, though."

" _Graduates, please go to your seats_ ," droned Mr. Lancer over a speaker.

Danny linked his arm with his girlfriend's, and they hurried toward the field, joining everyone else.

Most of the spectators were already in their seats, from the parents in the chairs on the field to everyone else in the bleachers. Danny heard his and Sam's name being called and looked over, only to find Max waving at them enthusiastically with what appeared to be an old camera in hand. She made to take a picture of them but accidentally took it of herself instead, jumping at the resulting flash.

"Well, that answers one question," said Danny. "Now where's—"

" _Ladies and gentleman_ ," said Tucker's voice loudly. "Ghosts and humans of all ages! If you will take your seats, we can begin the ceremony."

Sam and Danny exchanged knowing glances after seeing Tucker on the stage, wearing his own gown with his ceremonial mayor top hat balancing on the squared cap. He waved at the two of them eagerly.

"See you after we graduate," said Danny, glancing back at his girlfriend.

Sam smiled. "See you."

They leaned in for a kiss.

"The mayor would like to remind the happy couple to stop with the googly eyes," said Tucker into the microphone, his voice muffled.

Danny could have sworn he saw Sam offer him a rude hand gesture when they broke apart. He went over to sit with the rest of those close to his last name. Tucker's seat was understandably empty beside him. He turned around to scan the area, only to see Valerie sitting right behind him. She smiled, waving back at him.

"Thank you," said Tucker as everyone began to quiet down. He cleared his throat audibly, reading off of a card. "Thank you all for coming today as we celebrate the end of our high school journeys and the beginning of the rest of our adult lives… It is my honor as the chosen mayor of Amity Park to introduce to you the Class of 2015!"

The audience cheered (though Danny thought he heard one of the teachers ask, "Is he even authorized to do this?").

"To begin the ceremony, we will start with…" Tucker made a face, then tossed the card behind him. "First up to graduate is resident handsome man, _and_ mayor, Tucker Foley—"

"No." Mr. Lancer took the microphone away. "I'm the one in charge around here, Mr. Foley. Mayors have to graduate in line like everyone else."

Tucker muttered something under his breath as he hopped off the stage to join the rest of the students.

Mr. Lancer picked the card up. "We will start with a speech from the Valedictorian."

The ceremony seemed to last forever to Danny, though it couldn't have been that long. He supposed that, with all the hype of graduation, he just wanted to get it over with. He was somewhat slumped in his seat while another speech rang out through the stadium, talking about all the experiences they had shared and what they will bring into the world.

"It's just high school. It's not that big of a deal," said Tucker, echoing Danny's sentiments.

He was assaulted by a few shushes around him.

In time, they were finally able to do the actual graduation. Danny was tired at this point, wanting nothing more than to graduate and go home to sleep. Still, he couldn't help his sudden rush of nerves when his line went over to the stage.

Then it was his turn.

"Daniel Fenton," Mr. Lancer read.

The applause he received was wholly unexpected.

Danny knew he had to keep going, but his body didn't; he froze the minute he got onto the stage, looking around at the scene in unexpected shock. _Everyone_ was cheering for him, from his closest friends and family to people he had never even seen before. His classmates were cheering the loudest, popular and geek and everything in between. They were cheering for Danny, just Danny.

He wasn't sure he would ever be used to that.

Caught in the moment, he almost didn't notice his own family jumping up and down in the field seats.

"That's my boy!" Jack bellowed, while Maddie took more pictures. Jazz, who ordinarily would have been mortified about her parents' enthusiasm, was smiling at her brother, applauding with the rest.

One teacher stole the microphone to remind everyone: "Hold applause until _after the ceremony_!"

"That boy has saved everyone's life more times than you can count!" Paulina called. "We will applause if we want to!"

"You mean applaud?"

"Whatever!"

"Move along, Mr. Fenton," said Mr. Lancer. "We can't all be heroes."

Danny returned to reality again and walked over to him, taking the diploma and shaking his hand. Mr. Lancer's voice became less monotone then as he leaned forward a bit.

"You've made great strides in the past few years. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

And just like that, it was over.

As he returned to his seat, he overheard Tucker's name being called right behind him, followed by the boy's scream of, "Woo!"

Tucker ran up the steps and dramatically pumped his fist in anticipation of an equally raucous applause. Not many people did so for him, so Danny, Sam, and even Max from the stands did most of it as loudly as possible, whistling and yelling his name.

Tucker waved his hand at the crowd with a "pssh" and walked over to receive his diploma.

The ceremony continued in that fashion for quite some time. Danny and Tucker were told yet again to hold their applause when Valerie went up to the stage. It was even worse when Sam's turn came; Mr. Lancer finally reached a point where he just ignored any more cheers.

Tucker made a wolf whistle at Sam the moment she stepped off the stage. She made a face at him while she returned to her seat, leaving the boys laughing to themselves.

As soon as Sam sat down, though, something about the environment changed. Something didn't feel right. When Danny looked around, no one else seemed to notice except Max, whose face was pointed at the sky.

Danny felt that chill work through him again, and he let out a gasp of cold air.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Tucker whispered.

Suddenly, there was a loud rumble like thunder. Something was glowing behind the clouds in the sky, and the ground shook as if in an earthquake. Danny realized what the rumbling was when he saw claw marks in the sky; each scratched mark revealed part of the swirling vortex of the Ghost Zone from behind. He realized then that the rumbling wasn't rumbling at all, but a muffled snarl—no longer muffled now, when Fluffy appeared.

" _What's with you and schools_?" Danny yelled.

Fluffy scratched at the sky once more to reveal the Ghost Zone fully in a self-made portal. She flew out of it, crashing violently into the stage so that it buckled under her weight and threw Mr. Lancer and the latest student onto the ground behind it. Fluffy, with giant red eyes and a pointy snarl of dripping ectoplasm, was much larger than Danny remembered—or perhaps it seemed that way in proportion to all of the innocent people gathered around her.

Danny recognized that war cry anywhere: "GHOOOOST!" It was followed by the familiar whistle of Fenton weapons powering up. His parents weren't far behind—

Fluffy let out a ripping roar of a ghost wail that sent Danny and the rest of the students backwards with force. Upon landing, Danny looked over at the stands to see that Max was already missing from her seat; after scanning the crowd, he saw her leaping over the railing and running over in their direction.

"Can… I be excused?" Danny asked, already switching to ghost mode in his cap and gown.

"Why are you asking me, Fenton? I'm not your teacher anymore." Mr. Lancer nodded knowingly to the ghost, then scurried away from the stage to go help the other students.

Turning to face Fluffy again, Danny leapt into the air to fly, though not without first taking off his graduation cap and tossing it ceremoniously into the air.


	11. Trade

(Author's Note: Hey! So, to the couple of people I told would see the chapter in one day... I guess I lied, ha. It's a long story, but I got the chapter back and it's ready to go. Enjoy part two of the graduation chapter, and thank you so much for all the nice reviews and favorites!)

* * *

Fluffy jumped off the stage, barreling across the yard, which was no longer pristine and celebratory and instead had been decimated by her wail in mere seconds. Some of the students and faculty took longer to get to their feet than others, but the ones who did ran as quickly as possible, some hiding under the bleachers while others vacated the area entirely in a panic.

"Remain calm!" Mr. Lancer yelled into his megaphone, which was rather unfortunately directed toward the ear of the student he was helping.

Since this was, in fact, the student body of Casper High, nobody listened.

Danny ignored the scene, zooming in the air toward the source of the chaos as it plowed through the remaining chairs on the field like they were nothing. It was leering at a number of lagging students, who were helplessly huddled near the stands, trembling. After what seemed to be a moment of thought, Fluffy pulled in some air and let out a roar that went through its whole body. It visibly shook everything and everyone in front of it, knocking the graduates' hats away.

" _Here_ , Fluffy!"

Danny whistled to it as if it was a golden retriever, and Fluffy turned its head, looking at him with narrowed crimson eyes.

Danny then whistled from across the field.

And a third Danny whistled from the endzone.

Fluffy spun around for a few moments, heavily confused by the very sudden presence of three Danny clones—until the original Danny appeared directly in front of it, tapping it on its puffed out chest. Fluffy whirled its head back around to look at him—

WHAM.

With a swing of Danny's glowing fist, Fluffy flew back, crash-landing into the stage so that it cleanly broke this time. Danny gathered himself and hovered over it, folding his arms over his chest.

"What is it with you and always coming at the most _inconvenient_ time possible?" he mused. "Normally, I guess I'd be okay with it, but, uh, we're all trying to graduate here."

Fluffy swiped at him with its paw, but he disappeared, reappearing just behind her seconds later. He leaned forward as if to whisper in its giant ear.

"Seriously, it's getting old."

The ghost whirled around and let out another sonic bark that sent him and anyone near him flying. Danny caught himself in the air, balancing himself and reaching for the thermos, which was—

Not there.

 _Crud_. He had left it with his parents.

"Um." Danny awkwardly scanned the crowd in disarray, trying to find someone that might have it with them. He couldn't find his friends anywhere, not even Max, who he had last seen running toward the scene. Where did they all go?

Thinking fast, he decided to use the first distracting thing he saw—Dash's football, which the latter had been holding over his head in a feeble attempt at taking cover. Danny swooped down to take it from him and reared his throwing arm back like a slingshot.

"Heads up, ugly!"

He lobbed the ball to Fluffy, hitting it squarely in the eye the moment it turned to look at him. ("Why couldn't I get a football scholarship?" he muttered under his breath.)

"You're being kind of slow today, huh?" he mused, weaving around the ghost's paws to retrieve the football. He shot it back toward Dash, who caught it in typical quarterback fashion and let out victory whoops. Danny turned back to regard the ghost curiously. "Usually you're ready to fight. Getting tired of me?"

Fluffy growled.

"Yeah, well, the feeling's mutual."

Danny socked Fluffy with another ecto-blast that sent it a few feet away. He dared a glance behind him, finally spotting his parents darting over with their inventions.

"Fenton thermos?" he asked hastily. He could hear Fluffy getting back to its feet with another huff.

"Fenton bazooka!" said Jack excitedly, holding up his completed invention.

"Good enough!" Danny caught the device that Jack tossed to him.

(He thought he heard Jazz mutter, "The family motto.")

Then he got distracted by the patter of giant paws against grass. Fluffy was charging, getting nearer and nearer, until it appeared in front of him and leaped into the air—

That was when Danny saw it.

The portal was still open. Usually ghosts that made their own portals tended to close them back so that they didn't have an open window to be thrown back in. Fluffy seemed pretty intelligent, considering everything, or at the very least, capable of thought. It was a good tracker and always had a mission when it came to rampaging in this realm…So why would it risk itself just to terrorize some students at random?

Something wasn't right.

It was as if the scene was in slow motion; parents were understandably panicking, Fluffy was still leaping into the air to pummel him, students were running or hiding…

He supposed that was why time seemed to go entirely too fast when he heard a terrified scream of his name.

"DANNY!"

He could recognize that voice anywhere. He scanned the crowd, finally zeroing in on Sam, who was valiantly fighting other ghosts in the midst of the commotion.

Other ghosts. Ghosts with jumpsuits and headgear. The scientists.

They weren't focusing on Max or even on Fluffy, who was typically the source of chaos in their efforts. Fluffy was only a source of chaos for Danny, distracting him far more than the scientists ever could—

Distracting.

 _It's a trap_.

" _SAM_!" Danny yelled.

The scientists lifted their ghastly green heads, faceless as they looked in Danny's direction.

Then Fluffy rammed into him headfirst, sending him a few feet into the air so that he dropped the weapon to the ground. He buckled when he knocked violently into the scoreboard above, finding the breath knocked out of him, though he wasn't sure if it was from the hit or from the sound of Sam's scream.

He blearily looked up while gathering himself, only to find a visibly thrashing Sam being hauled off by one of the ghost scientists into the sky. Tucker, their other victim, wasn't far behind, being toted in the other scientist's grip. His hat had flown off and he was yelling something unintelligible, sending a flurry of useless kicks into the air in front of him.

"No!"

Danny shot after them like a bullet, seeing that the ghosts were headed toward the portal, taking the humans with them.

The realization hit the crowd of humans about the same time.

"They're taking people!" someone shrieked from the stands.

"They're gonna eat them!"

Then came the typical panic response: " _We're all gonna die_!"

More pandemonium ensued.

Dash, whose voice was automatically louder than most, must have been overcome by his imminent demise like the others. He stood up from his position behind one of the bleachers, cupping his hands around his mouth to make an announcement.

"Kwan!" he cried. "I've always loved you, bro!"

Kwan, sitting not far away, looked close to tears. "Bro…"

Danny hardly registered the scene behind him. He was acutely aware of his friends getting farther and farther away in the sky, and of Fluffy chasing after the ghosts without looking back, its distracting mission finished.

Aside from the realization that this was a trap, Danny didn't know what was going on, and neither, it seemed, did the unexpected presence of Max, who was running on the ground below them, calling up to them.

"Your subject's right here! I'm the one you want! Take me!— _Take me_!"

They didn't seem to hear her feeble human voice so far below.

She started running faster, to the point that her human body couldn't keep up; she tripped and fell down in the middle of the field, screaming now. "TAKE _ME_!" She didn't seem to have the energy to get back up from her knees, now staring up at them helplessly.

While Danny sped across the horizon, wishing he could go faster, he looked down, seeing Valerie running after them from the ground, her eyes wide. He knew that look. She wanted to help but couldn't.

Or could she?

She glanced back at the staring crowd, seemingly weighing her options. Her father seemed to know that look, too.

"Don't you dare, Valerie!" His voice was a mere mutter in the crowd.

"Aw, hell, I'm never going to see any of you again anyway!" Valerie clapped the sides of her feet together and her ghost-fighting armor wound around her in a snap.

(" _Is nothing sacred_?" Mrs. Manson yelled.)

After stealing the Fenton bazooka from the ground, Valerie shot off into the air, speeding up toward the portal to somehow save her friends as well.

Sam and Tucker were pulled into the portal just as it started to close.

Danny bellowed his friends' names against the wind, gritting his teeth as he got nearer and nearer to the disappearing Ghost Zone. Valerie shot ahead of him on her hoverboard, glancing back at him knowingly before she leaned forward, speeding up as much as she could.

She made it just in time, slipping through the portal the moment before it disappeared with a pop.

Danny, however, wasn't so lucky.

He had leapt for it helplessly, but he only fell directly through where it used to be in the sky. Entirely too distraught about this, he didn't and couldn't think of flight anymore, so that he plummeted toward the crowd, crashlanding into the pristine football field like a meteorite.

Max ran over to him as he recovered, shakily sitting up.

"They—didn't take you?" Danny sputtered.

"No. I don't know what's happening… I'm so sorry." She was sobbing. "I shouldn't have come here… I should've just turned myself in this morning like I'd planned, then none of this would've happened—"

"This isn't your fault," Danny said breathlessly, wincing at his newly aching body.

"Yes it is. It's always my fault." She sucked in a breath, looking back at the sky where the portal once was. "But this time, I'm going to make it right."

After a decisive pause, she got back to her feet, running toward the gate.

"Max? _Max_!"

"It's that Canadian ghost! Get her!"

Danny looked up to see a group of families heading his way, including his own. Jack was pointing accusingly at Max, his prime ghost suspect. But the most noticeable presence was Sam and Tucker's respective families, all of whom were looking at him in a potent mix of fear and anger. He figured the anger part was directed at him, as it often was.

Danny followed his father's pointed finger to find Max already halfway across the field.

"Dad, she's not Canadian! I mean she's—Never mind! I have to go—"

Just as he turned around to leave, he bumped into Mr. Manson, whose hand was outstretched to stop him.

"You aren't going anywhere until you tell me what they want with my daughter!" he hissed.

"I… I don't know—"

"Of course you don't! This is all your fault! This is _exactly_ why she should have never been involved with you and your _ghost_ madness—"

"You leave him alone!" Maddie spat, standing protectively in front of Danny despite him being taller than her now. "One, it's _not_ madness; it's a complex and mysterious form of science that Danny just so happens to embody, and _two_ —"

"You would know all about that, wouldn't you? Turning your son into a ghost freak that only ever puts other people in danger! You should be ashamed!"

"My ghost freak son _saved your butts from complete annihilation_! More than once!" Maddie prodded Mr. Manson squarely in the chest. "And he will save your daughter, too! Right, sweetie?"

Danny didn't get to respond when Mrs. Manson walked over to him, tears in her eyes—a rare sight, considering that she preferred a much more put-together façade, much like her daughter. "Where did they take her?"

"The Ghost Zone." Danny looked at Tucker's family. "They took Tucker, too. I don't know why or what they're doing, but—I can't leave my best friends behind. I have to go!"

He shoved past Sam's parents and made to leave, until he stopped in his tracks, remembering the mother's tears—realizing that their anger was more out of concern than anything else. He turned around, looking back at them; they only stared, one fuming and the other terrified.

"I know you don't approve of me or what I do, Mr. and Mrs. Manson, but right now, this isn't about me. It's about Sam and Tucker," he said. "I know you love Sam. I do, too. A lot." He felt his face get warm at the confession, especially at the unsurprisingly distressed look on the Mansons' face as a result. "I won't let anything happen to her. I'll get her and Tucker back. I promise." He looked back at the Foleys in turn. "I promise."

He had gained enough energy to fly again at this point, so he floated into the air, preparing to leave.

"Let us know what we can do to help," said Maddie, hastening over to him. She had one of her Fenton weapons in hand, just in case.

"I don't know yet until I find out where they took them. When I come back, we can figure it out."

"Assuming you come back," said Sam's father coolly.

"I will." Danny flew back to the ground to hug his mother. "Otherwise, all that freaking out about graduation would've had no point."

"It still had no point," said Jazz as she walked up to join them. "But anyway… Be careful."

"And get back my bazooka," Jack grumbled.

Just like that, graduation was over.

It took Danny a long time to reach Fenton Works, mainly because he kept getting distracted, thinking about how he was going to save them, if at all. Where was the ghost lab located? What did they want with his friends? How was he going to find them?

He found his answer when he finally arrived to his family's lab.

Max was standing blankly in front of the broken portal, staring into its hollow depths. She turned around, her eyes wide, her face flushed. He wondered if she forgot to drink water again.

"I tried to go after them," she said before Danny had the chance to speak, "but… the portal isn't working."

"It works. Just at certain times." Danny checked the portal schedule on the wall beside it; it was bound to open right on schedule within the next few minutes. After a few moments of silence, he turned back to her, seeing her looking at the rack of weapons nearby, visibly ashamed.

"Those scientists… They seem to have a penchant for humans. You know what they might want with Sam and Tucker?" he asked her.

Max stared at the portal again a lost look in her eyes. She looked like she wanted to cry again, but she seemed able to hold back the tears, finally speaking in a murmur.

"I remember… when you fought them near that park the last time. They realized that you were my ally, and you weren't going to help them take me. I think they also remembered that Sam and Tucker fought with you before… So maybe they knew they wouldn't be able to get their mistake back from fighting you alone. Maybe—"

Danny immediately realized. "They want to trade."

Max looked at him again, her eyes wide. Danny then realized that the wide eyes in the "MISSING" poster were only ever because of fear. Her face was nearly identical to that expression at this point. She knew what a trade entailed. Danny knew what it entailed.

She was visibly panicking in spite of everything, so her next shaky words were a bit of a surprise: "Then let's trade."

"Max—"

"I was going to turn myself in this morning anyway," she said. "I would have to go back no matter what. Now your friends are missing because they want me back—and I feel like if I don't go, they will do something to them. I can't let them go through what I did. I don't want anyone else to go through that. Especially not Tucker and Sam."

Danny sensed something in her tone. "But?"

She sucked in a breath. "I just… I'm not sure how I can do it."

Danny wasn't sure how he could do it, either; it was one thing to send ghosts back to the Ghost Zone because they were lost or causing mayhem for the heck of it, but it was a much different feeling when it came to sending one back to worse situations.

"You don't have to do it," he said at last. "We'll go get Sam and Tucker, beat them, and bring you back with us."

"How could we beat them?"

"Details are a little fuzzy 'til we get there, I guess, but…"

Just then, there was the familiar pop of the alternate dimension coming into existence; swirls of green energy appeared where the more tangible portal used to be, revealing the mysterious depths of the Ghost Zone. Danny glanced back at his friend.

"Remember when you told me you wanted to fight them back?" He grabbed the nearest Fenton weapon and placed it into her pale hand. "Now's your chance."

"I wanted to fight them when I got my powers back. But now, I still don't have my powers, and I'm not strong enough of a human to take them on."

"What was it you said about humans, though? They get knocked down, but not for long. To be human is to be…"

Max gripped the weapon more tightly. "Resilient."

Danny put his hand on her shoulder.

"Max, it's time to be human."


	12. Mission

The trip into nowhere was a long one. Danny was starting to get tired as he flew alongside the made-for-human copter in which Max sat, using the controls with slight difficulty. Her frustration with the abundance of Fenton technology almost overshadowed her panic about their kidnapped friends.

Green blurred into green, except for the shadows of the occasional floating portal to Earth. Danny counted on her memory—however terrible it was—to pinpoint where she had escaped from, or at least somewhere close.

"The one I found," she explained, "led to just outside that school you were visiting. But the portals sometimes move around. I don't know if it'll be close to where they are now."

"Better than nothing, at least," said Danny. "You'd think they'd lead us to where they are if they really wanted a trade."

"In my experience, they like to make things hard on us," Max grumbled. "So I'm not surprised."

Entirely lost, they stopped for a few moments, the eerie glow of the area whirling around them like a vortex. Max handed him his map of the Ghost Zone through the open window, and he took it, frowning at the many inscriptions in the margins or drawn arrows, courtesy of his sister, who felt the need to clarify. Luckily, her need to clarify was just what they needed.

"Jazz says here that certain portals go in a big circle around certain areas of the Zone," he muttered, pointing to a certain spot in the map. "Sort of like an orbiting planet. So, if we find that portal, we can follow it to Sam and Tucker. Eventually."

The rest of the trip was quiet except for the low, ominous sounds of wails in the distance. The silence was deafening to Danny, who just wanted to see his friends safe, and to Max, who seemed to feel entirely responsible for the lack of safety.

He finally gained the gumption to break the silence. "So, were you gonna tell any of us before you left this morning?"

The vehicle swerved slightly, perhaps in a jump of surprise on her part.

"Huh? No." She shook her head, facing forward as she steadied her controls. "No, I wasn't. I figured it would be better to let you have your ceremony. Which was beautiful, by the way. But then I figured it would at least be nice to see this graduation you all kept talking about. Then I was going to leave after that."

"You wouldn't have wanted to say goodbye to Tucker, at least?"

"Why… would you say that?" That familiar blush came to her cheeks. At first, Danny pretended not to notice, but he couldn't help his slight smirk when she made eye contact with him again. "What?"

"Come on, Max."

Max said nothing for a few solid beats, until she sighed. "Saying goodbye wouldn't matter. You would've known where I was. Still going back to the Overseer, like he wants me to."

"Yeah, but you're not staying," said Danny firmly. "Remember?"

Max smiled weakly. "I keep forgetting."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"It's not that, it's just… I'm not sure how we can pull it off."

"I'm not either. I guess that's the fun part." Danny paused, suddenly recalling an interesting word Max had used to describe one of the ghosts involved. "Who's the Overseer?"

"That's… what I call him. They never address him by name," she muttered. "He's the person in charge of all of this. He would usually pop in and out without a word, or at least I couldn't hear him. I just knew he was there sometimes. Watching."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Danny had seen his fair share of evil ghosts throughout the years; maybe he could work out who it was so he could pinpoint their weakness. He had gotten so much better at that kind of stuff, thanks in part to Jazz's studies in psychology.

"He was just—a shadow. I don't know. It was always a blur while I went in and out of consciousness." Max offered a grim smile at whatever look must have been on Danny's face. "I know you want me to know more, but…"

"It's okay," said Danny. "I just thought it might help us for when we get there."

" _If_ we get there. Where do you suppose we are?"

"You tell me. You're the ghost. Sort of."

"I just know what that door looks like, but I haven't seen it yet. Maybe I haven't been looking hard enough… You know, it's a red wooden door, sort of— _yea_ big—"

She was about to gesture how tall the door was when she rammed smack into it.

She lurched forward before being just as violently ripped back into the chair by the seatbelt. In a daze, she brought her hand to her forehead, which she had hit on the dashboard. "Ow!"

"You okay?" Danny flew over to the vehicle, pushing it away from the floating door.

"Fine." Max gestured awkwardly in the door's direction. "I, erm, there it is."

"There it is," he agreed.

"So, what now? We follow it?"

They followed it.

Any second wasted was agonizing, so this wait in particular was even worse, especially because the portals tended to move slowly. But there was no way for him to correctly map out a circle with the Ghost Zone seemingly ever changing—at least not at first. By the time he and Max started to notice certain landmarks, the map became clearer to decipher, and so did the invisible circle he drew with the traveling door.

In time, Max leaned forward in her seat, pointing just ahead. "That's it."

Danny felt his heart leap in his chest both out of terror and in a burst of hope. Sam was in there. Tucker was in there. Who knew what those ghosts were doing to them?

" _That's_ it?"

The incredulity in his tone wasn't unwarranted; he had been expecting something like a prison or a warehouse, in which an evil ghost scientist lab could easily fit. But this was more like a grandiose castle, similar to one he had seen where time stood still and there was—inexplicably—a monarchy of ghost dragons.

Yikes. He'd forgotten about that for a while.

"Are we secretly in the Renaissance period?" he asked her.

"Look, I don't remember much, but I definitely remember this place." Max nodded to it. "That's probably my biggest memory, running through those giant halls when I escaped."

"I'll take your word for it. I just hope we can find them soon."

"I do, too."

They landed on the island, which seemed to float in midair, held by the black and green mist local to the Ghost Zone.

Max had trouble getting out the vehicle at first, not for a lack of ability but for a lack of willpower. Danny could definitely understand why; she was going back to the very place she risked everything to escape from. She was going back to her abusers, to ghosts who wanted nothing more than to treat her as their experiment. He wouldn't want to go back either. In fact, he didn't want her to go back now. He felt like he was leading her to her execution.

"You ready?" he asked, handing her the Fenton weapon.

"As I'll ever be."

Her hands were shaking.

The castle was more daunting the closer they got to it. It stood tall and black against the green-gray sky, with jagged arches and edges. It must have been there for eons, as some pebbles seemed to break from cracks in the stone. The door was equally gigantic when they stood before it, weapons and ghost energy in their arsenal.

"Looks like they've got the villain lair part down," said Danny.

He briefly turned into his human form, silently following Max as she easily phased through the door and appeared on the other side.

"Not used to that now," said Max.

"Now you're one of us!" Danny transformed back into his ghost side upon joining her inside. He hesitated, glancing down at himself. "Sort of."

Just then, there was a ripping roar, followed by a chorus of screams echoing down the hall. Fluffy was entertaining herself with her guests.

"Sam." The name came out of Danny in a mere breath, as if it was knocked out of him. He looked at Max, who was gathering her breath.

"Let's go," she whispered.

She gripped her weapon tightly, crouching slightly as she began to sneak along the wall. Danny followed suit, keeping his fist tight, ready for battle.

Despite it sounding like it was just down the hall, they had to maneuver through many of them. Danny hated that they had to follow the sound of their screams, but it was the only way.

He was starting to get particularly antsy when they reached another corridor, where a room sat at the very end with the doors propped wide open. Even from afar, Danny could see that the antique nature of the castle had to be a diversion; the room inside was straight out of a science fiction film, with lab technology that his parents couldn't dream to afford. The only things that matched the exterior of the castle were the binds that held Sam and Tucker against the wall: sooty medieval chains, although they were glowing with ectoplasmic energy.

"They got smarter about humans," Max murmured from just behind him. "They can't phase through that."

"Can you see anyone else? I thought I heard Fluffy."

"Fluffy is probably in there watching Sam and Tucker, but I'm not sure about the others." (A pair of echoing voices began to talk just ahead.) "There's the others."

"Yeah." Danny sighed, clenching his glowing fist tighter. "Great."

Max was staring at Sam, then at Tucker, who didn't seem so much in pain as he was uncomfortable. He was sitting where he was chained, his glasses askew, his hat flown off entirely, and still donned in now-dirty graduation robes. He was strangely quiet while Sam—taking advantage of her activist volume—did all the talking, her voice grating and annoyed versus the ghosts' smoother sounds, but they ignored him. They probably did only that with their captives; they didn't seem otherwise harmed, except for Tucker's shining black eye.

The sight of his friends in trouble, even if it wasn't immediate, made Danny's chest ache.

They sneaked along the side of the wall down the corridor, with Danny's glowing fist at his side while Max's weapon was pointed just over his shoulder. Sam's voice became much clearer as they went, something he was grateful for; any distraction was a valuable one in this situation. It was almost as if Sam knew they were there.

"Just you wait until they get here," Sam spat. "You've got not one, but two ghost hunters on your trail! This is all going to shut down before you know it!"

"Silence," said one scientist.

"No, I will _not_ be silenced! This goes against every code of conduct in the book! This whole operation is inhumane, all of it, and _you know it_!"

"I mean, technically, they aren't human, so 'inhumane' isn't really a good word for this."

"Shut _up_ , Tucker."

The arguments continued as the newest arrivals crept through the corridor and arrived at either side of the wide door to the lab. Danny peered inside, looking at Sam again. She had fallen silent despite her protests after a while and was now attempting to figure out how to escape. Her shackles were extremely tight on her wrists, judging from the redness on her skin, which told him she had probably tried and succeeded in escaping one too many times.

'On my signal,' Danny mouthed to Max, who nodded in response, her hands trembling again as she pointed the weapon up.

Tucker seemed to sense that something was different, for he glanced over at the door just as Danny was aiming at one of the scientists from behind.

"Danny!" he cried.

The two scientists whirled around, giving Danny a split second to act. He flew forward, brandishing his energy in blasts and knocking both scientists back against their equipment. Max sent a few more zaps their way with her own weapon before she hurried over to Sam and Tucker.

"Are you okay?" she asked them.

"Fine. A little sore," said Sam, wiggling her chains.

"Oh, I'm so glad. That you're fine, I mean." Max let out a heavy sigh of relief, holding her energy weapon just above their binds. "Let me get you out of here…"

"What are you doing here?" Tucker asked wildly. Max held onto his hand to steady it as she tried to break the chain; his fingers seemed to lace with hers unconsciously. "You can't be here, Max—They'll see you!"

"They took you two because they wanted me to come in your place," said Max, wincing as the energy cut through his second shackle. She was glad her aim had improved. "They're expecting me."

"But—"

"Don't talk anymore, okay? Just leave."

Just as she had moved onto Sam's binds, the latter jolted, gasping, "Look out!" She snatched Max by the closest part she could reach—her shirt—and ducked down with her just as the swipe of a giant paw threatened to take her out.

The scene seemed to anger one ghost in particular.

"I really wish you'd _stop—showing—up_!"

Danny leaped onto the back of the ghost wolf's body, pulling Fenton floss around its neck to jerk it away from the captives.

While he fought with the wolf, the scientists recovered from whatever beatdown he had issued before; they only then noticed Max's presence just as she had finished breaking one of Sam's chains.

"Call the Overseer," one of them hissed.

"Use your pen to get her out," said Max instantly, pulling away from Sam the moment one scientist started running over to the controls.

("It's not a pen," Tucker grumbled.)

Max whirled around, still visibly shaking with fear and courage. She pulled her Fenton weapon up and aimed it at the scientist, listening to the gentle whir of its energy charging. "I've been waiting a long time for this."

Just as Danny was thrown to the ground by Fluffy's sonic scream, he saw a blast from Max's weapon that seemed to ricochet from the wall, hitting the other scientist rather than her target at the controls. The scientist crumpled to the ground in surprise.

Well, Danny thought, that was one way to do it.

Fluffy lunged at Danny just as he got to his feet, and he turned intangible, watching as Fluffy tried to skid to a halt and crashed into a table full of alien-looking equipment. Sam ran over to his side, fumbling for her weapon.

Fluffy hissed something in Esperanto again, just as Tucker arrived to help them fight.

"What'd she say?" Danny asked, gritting his teeth as he held off Fluffy's oncoming attack.

"Um, something something, 'you can go now'?"

"What?"

"Or maybe it was, 'you _can't_ go now.'"

"Tuck!"

"I'm a little rusty." Seeing that Fluffy was being handled by Sam and Danny pretty well, he darted over to Max, who was still squaring off against the scientists.

It seemed to take a few seconds for her to get the hang of the actual energy properties of her weapon, until she finally did, as though remembering where she was—remembering the atrocities that were performed in this very lab.

Remembering that now, it was her with the ability to hurt.

Danny liked to imagine that every blast of her weapon was Max taking revenge against them. _BANG._ That was for kidnapping her. _BANG_. That was for erasing her memories. _BANG_. That was for erasing her ghost self. _BANG._ That was for kidnapping her new friends. _BANG_ —

One scientist, thought to be incapacitated, appeared just behind Max, causing Tucker to yell her name and dash over to her.

Something the scientist was holding caused the weapon to suddenly stop functioning. In her confusion, Max paused just long enough for the other scientist to catch up to her, snatching her from behind. Just then, Tucker leaped onto the scientist's back, causing them to let go of her; Max managed to spin around, swinging the weapon like a bat and knocking the attacker cleanly on the side of the head.

" _Hey_!" Tucker let go of the scientist when the latter crumpled to the ground, perhaps entirely unused to physical combat. "That almost hit me."

"Looks like it didn't," said Max. She offered a small smile. "Thanks."

The scientist who shut the weapon down took advantage of the distraction and aimed to attack—

 _Thud_.

Max stepped back from the fallen scientist as they tried to recover.

Fenton weapons were pretty good blunt objects. Who knew?

The fight went on. Every hit against them, from any and all of the teenagers, made them weaker and weaker, almost stopping their resolve to put an end to this by calling the Overseer.

They didn't have to call for him, as it turned out. He was already there.

But Danny didn't know it, at least not yet. Danny, as usual, was far too distracted.

He was struggling just ahead with Fluffy, who wasn't going down without a fight, even if she was going down; she was snarling as he tied her to one of the shackles that Sam and Tucker had been locked in.

"You got it?" Sam asked.

"Just a—second… Yeah." Danny finished tying the last of the Fenton floss into a neat little bow. Then, after a gleeful kick through one of the windows in the corridor, Danny pushed Fluffy out into the abyss, sending her swimming in an endless green sea.

"Really?" Sam sounded annoyed but couldn't seem to hide her smile. "Was that necessary?"

"I really wanted to drive the point home. Anyway," said Danny, "let's get out of here. Tuck, Max!"

"Coming, dude!"

Tucker and Max ran over to where they stood, all of them facing Danny as he made his way back into the room. He glanced over at the pair of scientists, who were still on the floor, weakened by Max's attacks.

"Wow. Didn't know you had it in you."

"I didn't know, either," said Max.

"Well, let's get the heck out of here," said Danny as they hurried down the corridor to do just that, "before anyone else shows up."

"Like the Overseer?" Tucker asked.

"Especially the Overseer."

Sam's face suddenly fell, her victory short-lived. She stopped in her tracks, causing Danny to turn around. "Danny, there's something you need to know about that…"

"We can talk later, Sam. We need to go—"

"There's no going anywhere."

That voice didn't belong to any of them.

At first, Danny didn't know where it came from, until he saw the looks on his friends' faces. They were all staring behind him, each with different expressions: Tucker in confusion, Sam in shock, and Max in pure fear.

"It's the Overseer," she whispered.

The scientists had come to; they must have followed them in the shadows. One of them, taking a page out of her book, knocked her unconscious with a practiced whack to the head, then moved on to the others. Danny was just about to act when the voice spoke again, rooting him to the spot.

"Hello, Daniel."

 _No_.

Danny slowly turned around to see both an unfamiliar and far-too-familiar sight. A gaunt, white-haired man, his dark eyes narrowed and shrouded with sleepless shadows. A wry but bitter smirk that told him he knew far more than Danny ever would and wasn't above the idea of telling him so.

Vlad Masters regarded him with a knowing smile.

"And goodbye."

Everything went black.


End file.
